BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, March 01, 2021 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris has expressed profound gratitude to the Government of the Republic of India for what he described as a ‘generous donation’ of 20,000 doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford University COVID-19 vaccine to the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis.
The vaccines, which arrived at the RLB International Airport today (Monday, March 01), were part of a larger batch of some 570,000 doses donated by the Government of India to the CARICOM region. Of that number, a total of 125,000 went to the OECS countries. Antigua and Barbuda and St. Vincent and the Grenadines received 40,000 doses each, Saint Lucia got 25,000 and St. Kitts and Nevis received 20,000.
In accepting the donation, Prime Minister Harris said the additional doses of vaccine represent “real hope for our people that working together we can defeat COVID-19.”
“Through His Excellency Srinivasa, High Commissioner of the Government and people of India accredited to the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, I would like to thank the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi for the compassion he is showing other nations during this period of the global COVID-19 pandemic. His generous heart and enduring sense of caring and solidarity are important values which our governments share,” the prime minister said during the handing over ceremony at the RLB International Airport.
The vaccines were presented to the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis by His Excellency Dr. K. J. Srinivasa, High Commissioner of the Republic of India accredited to the Federation.
Prime Minister Harris noted that one of the lessons learnt during this pandemic is how interconnected and interdependent we are as a global community.
It is against this backdrop that Dr. Harris said, “No nation is safe, no nation is secure until all nations are safe. If the world is truly to be rid of COVID-19, then the global community has to work together.”
“Donations of vaccines, like these from India, show that developing nations need help and need support. If richer nations hoard their vaccine supplies, not sharing their vaccines with those nations in need, their security will be a hollow and a shallow one. I repeat then that no nation is safe, no nation is secure until all nations are safe,” Prime Minister Harris added.
The COVISHIELD AstraZeneca-Oxford University COVID-19 vaccines received by the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis were manufactured in India by the Serum Institute of India – the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer – in collaboration with AstraZeneca.
-30-
