Unity in CARICOM will act like a shield during pandemic: PM Harris

St Kitts: Prime Minister Timothy Harris of St Kitts and Nevis called on regional leaders to address the the global vaccine shortage issue. He made the remarks at the recent ACT- Accelerator Facilitation Council Meeting on Wednesday.

PM Harris attended the meeting as CARICOM Head with responsibility of heatlh. While the discussion he threw the light on the global inequalities in the case of COVID-19 vaccine distribution, especially the Oxford AstraZeneca. He was joined by Chief Medical Officer Dr Hazel Laws.

Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis praised the working of the regional government for maintaining economic sustainability during the ongoing pandemic.

“The approved vaccines are not available through the COVAX facility, and they are not available for purchase at prices we can afford. This is not right that in a world where millions of doses of vaccine lie untouched in warehouses of some countries, so many of us around the world, including my CARICOM region, cannot get enough vaccines to reach her immunity from this terrible disease”, said Prime Minister Harris.

Caribbean countries have made every possible protocol for every sector, whether tourism, services of industries, security and education, to maintain the balance between the livelihoods and lives.

Prime Minister also disccused the distribution of vaccine for children in all countries along with reallocation of the vaccine to the countries experiencing a high number of cases in which children get infected by the COVID-19 virus.

He said the unity among the Caribbean countries during this pandemic will prove like a shield for them against the adverse effect on their business, education and travel and tourism industry

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of World Health Organization also joined the ACT-Accelerator Facilitation Council Meeting.