Beautiful Virgin Islands

Saturday, Jul 26, 2025

Not The Time To Wait & See! UK Minister Urges Vaccination

Not The Time To Wait & See! UK Minister Urges Vaccination

Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon, who’s the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Minister responsible for the Overseas Territories (OTs) has urged residents of the OTs, including the BVI to vaccinate.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon addressed COVID-19, vaccines and the post-pandemic future for the OTs, stating that the supply of vaccines cannot be taken for granted and each batch has a limited shelf life.

"I implore everyone who can, to take the vaccine, not only for themselves, but to protect their friends and family, and do their part to ensure we can re-open borders and restart our economies. Whilst the first wave of COVID-19 was a shock, we have seen the spread of more infectious variants in the UK, Gibraltar and Bermuda, which were much harder to contain and led to more deaths," Lord Ahmad stated.

As international tourism restarts and travellers look for destinations that have managed to control community transmission, Lord Ahmad noted that the supply of vaccines from the UK gives the Overseas Territories a unique advantage to market themselves as safe places to holiday as we learn to live with COVID-19.

"We need only look to Gibraltar, which had more than 1,200 active cases when the vaccination campaign began and has managed to reduce this down to zero, or St Helena which managed to vaccinate more than 90% of its adult population within four weeks," Lord Ahmad stated.

He added, "Now is not the time to wait and see, the vaccines are safe and effective, by getting vaccinated you will be helping your community. The pandemic illustrated how fragile global supply chains are and gave us reason to think about the resilience of our communities."

Lord Ahmad expressed the view that it has been a particularly hard year for many in the British Virgin Islands, just as it has been in the United Kingdom where the virus saw a dramatic economic slowdown and sadly many deaths.

"I am proud of the fact that despite the situation we faced in the UK, we were able to support the Overseas Territories, and in the case of BVI, this included supplying lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines," Lord Ahmad shared.

He pointed out that since the outbreak of the virus, experts from the UK’s public health organisation have provided remote support to BVI via regular teleconferences to discuss disease management techniques and medical equipment. The UK provided testing kits, which more than doubled BVI’stesting capacity.

As of August 2020, the UK had supplied BVI with nearly 400,000 items of equipment, including testing machines, goggles, facemasks, and ventilators.

"In total, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has delivered over three million items of medical equipment to the Overseas Territories since March last year. We have recently been organising the delivery of the vaccines to all of the inhabited Overseas Territories. Whilst the UK provided material support, I have been impressed by the way in which people across the Territories rallied together to keep their communities safe, and how the public servants and other key workers strived tirelessly to keep essential services running in these exceptional circumstances," Lord Ahmad stated.

He noted that the pandemic has called into question all of the freedoms and certainties which 'we took for granted', but it has also forced 'us to innovate and change our ways' of working.

"We all hope that life will return to normal very soon, but we should expect that some aspects of life will have changed permanently as we move forward. Whilst this has been a shock to many of us, this is actually an opportunity for BVI, especially as the world embraces remote working, placing the Overseas Territories with an opportunity to attract new talent and inward investment," Lord Ahmad stated.

As economies restart, Lord Ahamad stated that we need to think carefully about what we can all do to protect the environment and halt global warming, which is disproportionately impacting island communities around the world.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Deputy attorney general's second day of meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell has concluded
Controversial March in Switzerland Features Men Dressed in Nazi Uniforms
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
×