Barbados to receive another shipment of 70,000 doses of Pzifer vaccine from the US

Barbados: The Caribbean island is all set to receive another shipment of 70,000 doses of Pzifer COVID-19 vaccine from the administration of the United States. This shipment is likely to arrive by next month.

Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley while her address during a recent media conference, cited, “I am happy to report to the nation that having met with Vice-President – Kamala Harris last week, her national security adviser communicated with – my permanent secretary yesterday morning, and the next tranche of COVID vaccines will come the week of November 7.”

Prime Minister also urged the general public of Barbados to take their shots of the COVID-19 vaccine. Further expressing her gratitude to the US government, PM Mottley noted that this donation would put the island in an excellent position to vaccinate as many persons as possible.

“The bottom line is that for whatever the reason, there are individuals who cannot take it either because of medical reasons or severe philosophical reasons. In those situations, we are saying that we accept that the only way to the destination is not vaccines, we accept that COVID testing can also give us an idea of safety, but we know it is cumbersome. That is where we talk about the – safe zones,” following the statement she added.

Besides this, Prime Minister also addressed the impact on the tourism sector done by the COVID-19 pandemic and how the Barbados government is tackling it.

She stated, “For the majority of the past 20 months, we have seen an excess of a 90 % decline in the travellers visiting. We know that it impacts us because you have seen from the farmers to the manufacturers, to the retailers complaining that their business is down, largely because we do not have enough people on the island eating, drinking, and moving around and doing the things that are necessary to keep us going.”