PM Skerrit participates in OECS’s 6th Special Meeting with WHO Head

The meeting was dedicated entirely to the coronavirus pandemic and had a fulsome interaction with individual invitee the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus.

20th of March 2021

Dominica: OECS Chairman and PM of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, participated in the 6th Special Meeting of the OECS authority with the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) H. E. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and his team.

PM Skerrit wrote, “On March 19, I participated in the 6th Special Meeting of the OECS authority with the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) H. E. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and his team.”

Furthermore, He added, “On behalf of the Authority, I expressed our pride and gratitude to WHO and Dr. Ghebreyesus, for maintaining constant communication with Small Island Developing States, especially in the Caribbean, and being an advocate for the region.”

Additionally, he stated, “During the meeting, we discussed an update on ACT-A and the COVAX facility, Safe and Sustainable Economic Recovery, Bridging the Supply Gap, Procurement and Finance, Vaccines and Transmission, Vaccine Passport, and Quarantine.”

Along with PM Skerrit, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Gaston Browne also joined in the Sixth Special Meeting of the OECS Authority on March 19, 2021.

OECS chairman PM Roosevelt Skerrit accredited Dr. Tedros on his exemplary leadership of the WHO during a period of global crisis, and he focused the conversation on the most urgent challenges facing OECS member states at this time.

The meeting heard that only one nation in the region had received vaccines under the COVAX facility: Jamaica. Heads addressed the urgency of having vaccine generation, and distribution ramped up as quickly as possible.

It was shown out that even if all the vaccine doses under COVAX were released, there would still be a ‘vaccine gap’ that would have to be charged.

Statistics available to the meeting unveiled that Antigua and Barbuda had so far vaccinated the second-highest percentage of its people in the CARICOM region, at 25%. Only Anguilla had vaccinated a higher percentage (31%).

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