CARICOM Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque on Friday praised the strong solidarity within CARICOM as Member States share their limited first batches of COVID-19 vaccines.<\/p>\n
The Secretary-General\u2019s comment came as he led his CARICOM Secretariat Staff in taking vaccine shots from 100 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine provided by Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados.\u00a0\u00a0 The Barbados Prime Minister also made donations to Guyana and other CARICOM neighbours \u00a0from its supply of 100,000 doses received from India.\u00a0 Dominica, which also received 70,000 doses from India, has shared with some Eastern Caribbean territories.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis shows the solidarity that exists in CARICOM,\u201d the Secretary-General said. \u201cWe\u2019ve always addressed the issue of COVID-19 as a collective,\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we were in a spot of bother last year, those countries that were able to get PPEs (personal protective equipment), reagents and Test Kits\u00a0 were also able to share with others,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Ambassador LaRocque thanked President Irfaan Ali of Guyana for arranging for Guyana\u2019s Ministry of Health to vaccinate the CARICOM Secretariat Staff. He also thanked Prime Minister Modi of India for his generous contribution of 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the Caribbean Community, calling it \u201ca tangible expression of goodwill in this challenging time\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Secretary-General encouraged the people of the Region to take the vaccine, but to also continue to observe the COVID-19 preventative measures \u2013 including social distancing, regular washing of hands, and not touching eyes, nose and mouth.<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s vaccination exercise also saw strong endorsement of the AstraZeneca vaccine and its effectiveness from the CARICOM Secretariat\u2019s \u00a0Assistant Secretary-General for Human and Social Development Dr. Douglas Slater, a Public Health physician.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that it works and I am encouraging all of our citizens to take it.\u00a0 If you take the vaccine you will be protected against serious illness and death,\u201d Dr Slater said.<\/p>\n
Source: CARICOM, 2021 (www.caricom.org)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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