BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, May 3, 2021 (MMS-SKN) — Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris who led the country on Monday February 22 by being among the first to take the first dose of the Oxford AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, will on Tuesday May 4 present himself for the second dose of the vaccine at the Sylvia Garnette Primary Health Care Facility in Tabernacle.
“Tuesday at 2:00 pm I go to the Tabernacle Health Centre for my vaccine, second dose, with security heads,” said Prime Minister Harris in a brief statement released on Monday May 3.
The statement came on the heels of a successful Covid-19 vaccination session at the Sylvia Garnette Primary Health Care Facility in Tabernacle on Saturday May 1 where Dr Harris visited, after hosting the latest edition of Prime Minister’s Health Walk that morning, to encourage persons who were being vaccinated.
The walk which had taken the participants from Bellevue to the Ottley’s hardcourts saw a number of its participants travel to Tabernacle to take their first dose of the vaccine where the Honourable Prime Minister congratulated them for doing the right thing.
“I want to encourage as many people as possible to move on and take the vaccine to protect themselves, protect their families, protect their co-workers, protect their community and help us to put the country back to work again by getting vaccinated,” observed Prime Minister Harris.
The vaccination rollout session on Saturday May 1, at the Sylvia Garnette Primary Health Care Facility, was facilitated by Nurse Norine Gabriel, who was assisted by Nurse Vivien Greene-Simon.
In the meantime, Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris on Friday April 30 at the ground breaking ceremony of Royal Plaza II at the Royal St. Kitts Hotel in Frigate Bay, where he thanked owners of the property for investing in St. Kitts and Nevis because of its success in containing the Covid-19 pandemic, expressed solidarity with the Government and people of India as the country experiences a surge in Covid-19 infections and deaths.
“We have seen all over the world that Covid-19 continues to be the single most important challenge facing people and countries alike,” said Dr Harris. “At this point we want to express solidarity with the Government and people of India, because we are seeing in that country that the Covid-19 has taken on a life of its own, and it is creating cause for significant alarm and setback.”
In what was referred to as Indian Government’s Vaccine Diplomacy, St. Kitts and Nevis had on Monday March 1 received 20,000 doses of Oxford AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines from the Government of India. The vaccines were manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, which is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, in collaboration with AstraZeneca.
The 20,000 doses of vaccine which had arrived through the RLB International Airport were part of a larger batch of some 570,000 doses donated by the Government of India to the CARICOM region, where 125,000 went to the OECS countries. Antigua and Barbuda and St. Vincent and the Grenadines received 40,000 doses each, and St. Lucia 25,000.
“India for us will and always be a very special country,” said Prime Minister Harris at the ground breaking ceremony. “And indeed in the context of Covid-19, India led the rest of the developed world in terms of its generosity in sharing vaccines produced on its soil with the rest of the community. We hope that those countries that are resourceful enough to give it support with ventilators, with hospital beds etc. that they do so in a quick way.”
