Members of the public are still expressing interest in receiving COVID-19 vaccines.
Acting Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw told the media that she had been advised that a number of people were still contacting the Ministry of Health and Wellness and public health officials requesting appointments for vaccinations.
Ms. Bradshaw made the comments today, after Barbados received a donation of 70,200 doses of the Pfizer vaccine from the US Government, at the Grantley Adams International Airport. Minister of Health and Wellness, Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic; US Ambassador to Barbados, Linda Taglialatela, and a number of officials from both countries were also present.
During the hand-over ceremony, the acting Prime Minister said there would be wide consultation before children in Barbados were vaccinated. She was responding to a question posed as to whether Barbadian children would now be vaccinated since the Pfizer vaccine could be used by 12-year-olds.
She told the media: “We have always said…that we will be guided by the science, and the science has indicated that children from age 12 were able to take the vaccination. Those matters are before the vaccination committee and we are awaiting their guidance in terms of how and when we can obviously be able to have that conversation with the public.
“In my position as Minister of Education, I would have to say that nothing will happen in relation to vaccination unless there is consultation and the widest consultation with our stakeholders, particular parents in this country, because I know that they have a number of anxieties about this whole exercise, even for themselves and taking the vaccination. But it is our intention that so long as we are able to have enough supply on island, that we are able to offer that to the wider population and that includes certainly our students,” she explained.