Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, Minister of Health and Wellness Jeffrey Bostic; Chief Medical Officer, Dr Kenneth George; Dr Yitades Gebre, PAHO/WHO Representative for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean; Mr Didier Trebucq, United Nations Resident Coordinator; US Ambassador Linda S. Taglialatela; the Japanese Ambassador; a representative of the Canadian High Commission; a representative of the British High Commission and EU Ambassador Malgorzata Wasilewska were among those at Grantley Adams International Airport for the arrival of the vaccines.

The vaccines arrived earlier on board a Caribbean Airlines cargo flight, operated by Northern Air Cargo, which departed Miami International Airport at 3:57 a.m. and touched down at Grantley Adams International Airport around 7 a.m.

India donated 100 000 doses of the Covishield vaccine to Barbados in February. This allowed Government to quickly roll out its inoculation progamme to fight novel coronavirus COVID-19.

The first phase of Barbados’ COVID-19 National Vaccination Programme was completed at the end of March and the second phase is scheduled to start on April 17, 2021.