There are now 53,600 AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccines in the Bahamas; 33,600 thousand received Tuesday and 20 thousand received earlier this month from the Indian government.
Vaccines approved for The Bahamas must be certified through the World Health Organization pre-qualification process. The must also possesses emergency use listing through the European Union and the United Kingdom; emergency use authorization through the US Food and Drug Administration or stringent regulatory authority/Caribbean regulatory system approval.
The vaccines are now on Bahamian soil, and Prime Minister the Most Hon. Dr. Hubert Minnis reiterated today that vaccines will save lives as the life saved may be yours.
“The AstraZeneca vaccine does not require ultra-cold storage like some of the other vaccines and because of this they’re easier to transport in cold boxes to our family islands, resident facilities and inner-city communities.
“This allows us to increase access to the vaccine and equitable distribution.
“Since the covid-19 vaccination program began on March 14th more than 7,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been administered on New Providence and Grand Bahama.
“The highest number of covert 19 vaccinations administered on a single day has been an exccess of 1,000 to date 63% of those that have received the vaccine are over the age of 60” he said.
Prime Minister Minnis is pleased that more covid-19 vaccines are now available for Bahamians, as government ensures that all Bahamians get inoculated.
“We must get as many people vaccinated as soon as possible before there is spread of one of these problematic variants in our country and as I mentioned before The Bahamas has a poor health profile due to our struggles with obesity, hypertension, diabetes and other chronic noncommunicable diseases.
“Covid-19 is particularly dangerous and potentially fatal to people who have these conditions the vaccine is our pathway to further opening up our economy and the creation of more jobs.
“It is dangerous to avoid taking a safe and effective vaccine.
“During a global health crisis as you wait you can get infected by this virus you can then end up in the hospital with permanent health issues or worse still it could kill you” Prime Minister Minnis said.
