Johnson & Johnson Vaccines Arrive

Belize has received a batch of one hundred and thirty-two thousand Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.  The Ministry of Health and Wellness acquired them through UNICEF and an African group at a cost of one-point-six million dollars. Minister of Health and Wellness Michel Chebat says he hopes that those who are unvaccinated will start to see the benefits of getting vaccinated.

Michel Chebat

Michel Chebat, Minister of Health & Wellness

“We are reaching out there to try to find as many different vaccines as we can to give our people the options to get vaccinated. It is critical for our country, for the majority of our people to be vaccinated. So, in our search to bring a variety of vaccines, we have identified AstraZeneca – over 150,000 Belizeans have been vaccinated with AstraZeneca with some incredible results, good results. We have over three thousand kids between the ages of 12 and 17 who have now been vaccinated with the Pfizer and we’ve had no reports of any adverse effects.  The Johnson and Johnson vaccines we expect to come in – to be available to the public as of Monday and we’re hoping it will have the same results. You know, the idea here is to have as much coverage for our people as possible.”

Reporter

“Is it still a one-shot vaccine?”

Michel Chebat

“It is a one-shot vaccine.”

Reporter

“We’ve been hearing word in the US that that might change.”

Michel Chebat

“We know that some of them may be requiring a booster down the road but I have not heard that Johnson and Johnson is one yet.”

Chebat commented on the Pfizer rollout for children ages twelve to seventeen. He said during the first two days, two thousand eight hundred children were vaccinated and those numbers increased between Wednesday and today.