Plans Afoot To Have COVID-19 Certified Vaccines For Ages 2 To 12
Minister for Health and Social Development Hon. Carvin Malone said plans are afoot to have COVID-19 certified vaccines for toddlers and children below 12 years of age.
The Minister said this decision follows a recent announcement by Cuba that vaccines are now available for children as young as 2.
“We will have to wait for the Centres for Disease Control (CDC), Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and Public Health England to certify which of those will be safe enough for us; not that we don’t trust the Cubans,” he said this week during his appearance on the Honestly Speaking Radio Programme.
He continued: “Because in our very own hospital we have persons who are 30 months old and they had to be tested because they have been found in terms of contamination of the virus. So we have to be able to get all of those school-aged kids in the daycare straight up. We are working in terms of getting that done. This is sooner rather than later.”
In the meantime, he also revealed plans to have the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines available on the ground.
“What we are doing is this: we realize with the kind and generous offer of the USVI, we were able to get 277 persons vaccinated and mainly those persons who were between 12 and 18. But, we have to get it here, so we were looking in terms of buying the refrigeration necessary in order to get this done.”
He said the UK has said the BVI “would be able to get access to the Moderna almost right away, so we are trying to get procurement of that particular refrigeration so that we can get Moderna here, and we are also looking in terms of getting the Pfizer here.”
He said transportation has always been the issue, but they found a way around it, where it would be coming directly to the territory or through St. Thomas and shipped to the BVI.
“We will have to wait for the Centres for Disease Control (CDC), Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and Public Health England to certify which of those will be safe enough for us; not that we don’t trust the Cubans,” he said this week during his appearance on the Honestly Speaking Radio Programme.
He continued: “Because in our very own hospital we have persons who are 30 months old and they had to be tested because they have been found in terms of contamination of the virus. So we have to be able to get all of those school-aged kids in the daycare straight up. We are working in terms of getting that done. This is sooner rather than later.”
In the meantime, he also revealed plans to have the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines available on the ground.
“What we are doing is this: we realize with the kind and generous offer of the USVI, we were able to get 277 persons vaccinated and mainly those persons who were between 12 and 18. But, we have to get it here, so we were looking in terms of buying the refrigeration necessary in order to get this done.”
He said the UK has said the BVI “would be able to get access to the Moderna almost right away, so we are trying to get procurement of that particular refrigeration so that we can get Moderna here, and we are also looking in terms of getting the Pfizer here.”
He said transportation has always been the issue, but they found a way around it, where it would be coming directly to the territory or through St. Thomas and shipped to the BVI.
