The Indian Government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has granted the Commonwealth of Dominica sufficient vaccines to vaccinate 35,000 Dominicans.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is expected to arrive in Dominica by this week.
This is as a result of a direct request by Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi.
The Dominican Prime Minister described the grant from the Indian Government as “an extraordinary gift”.
“So 35,000 people can be vaccinated in Dominica as a result of a gift from the Government of India. We really want to thank Prime Minister Modi and the Government and the people of India for this extraordinary gift.”
“God’s willing we should receive the vaccines in Dominica this week and the Ministry of Health will be informing the nation from tomorrow [Monday, February 8] about the vaccines and the rollout of the vaccination plan. So 35,000 Dominicans can be vaccinated as early as this month,” Prime Minister Skerrit said on Sunday.
Prime Minister Skerrit also informed that the Ministry of Health will indicate the categories of people who will be vaccinated.
He said the 35,000 people who will be vaccinated will complement the already committed vaccines through PAHO for Dominica that will cover 20% of the population.
“So you’re talking about half the population plus 20%—we talking about 70% of the population could be vaccinated very soon in Dominica. There’s also a commitment from the Government of China to provide some 20,000 doses of the vaccines as well.”
He said the Ministry of Health will speak about the benefits of the vaccines and the health officials will be quizzed by the media as education exercises are to be rolled out.
