M.O.H.W. Says COVID-19 Vaccines are on the Way

Michel Chebat

Belize continues to push for its quota of vaccines through COVAX and other agencies. An initial shipment of vaccines is scheduled to arrive in-country by the end of the first quarter. According to Minister of Health and Wellness, Michel Chebat, twenty thousand vials of Sputnik 5 COVID-19 vaccines will also be accepted from Russia.

Michel Chebat, Minister of Health & Wellness

“Kindly allow me to update the honorable house on the status of the COVID-19 vaccines.  The COVAX facility has advised us of the intended delivery of a hundred thousand, eight hundred doses of the Astra Zeneca vaccine by the end of the first quarter of this year.  This indicative distribution, Madam Speaker, is based on the estimated availability of vaccines from the manufacturers.  On the twenty-ninth of January, 2021, the European Medicine‘s Agency, EMA, granted conditional marketing authorization for Astra Zeneca vaccines to be used in European countries.  The next awaited step is for the World Health Organization emergency use listing for the Astra Zeneca vaccine.  Apart from the COVAX facility, Madam Speaker, the CARICOM Secretariat has advised us of the opportunity to procure eighty-one thousand, six hundred and ninety-seven doses of vaccines through the African Medical Supplies platform.  This is an opportunity offered to CARICOM member states and we have expressed our interest to CARICOM through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Madame Speaker, as well, I am pleased to report that today through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we have indicated to the Russian Federal Republic our acceptance of a donation of twenty thousand dose of the Sputnik 5 vaccine.”