After months of aggressively testing dozens of potential Covid-19 vaccines; Pfizer and Moderna have become the first two authorized in the Western hemisphere.
Health Minister the Honourable Renward Wells said The Bahamas is looking into the best possible scenario for acquiring them.
“We were looking to purchase freezers if we do go the route of Pfizer. If we go the route of Moderna, it doesn’t need that kind of freezer equipment. Obviously it would be less expensive for the Bahamian people, but we’re looking to source vaccines immediately,” he said.
The government has already made a down payment for 80,000 doses through the World Health Organization (WHO).
“We have the right to purchase vaccines beyond that 80,000 doses from any of the other companies, so it’s not just going to be 80,000 doses.
The Oxford vaccine I believe is like two pounds, which if you round it up is somewhere around two dollars per dose. I think the one through the COVAX facility is around 15 dollars per dose,” he said.
As the COVID-19 curve continues to flatten, Minister Wells says the goal is to keep the number of cases as low as possible.
“We have flat-lined the cases and obviously we are looking to maintain the hard won gains that we now see in country…. I don’t want us to go back through what we went through in the second wave” he said.
As of Wednesday’s count, The Bahamas had a total of 7,549 confirmed COVID-19 cases.
