Cabinet News: Booster Shots for All and Extended Free Testing

In Cabinet news, with the start of the 2021 tourism season and increased tourist arrivals expected at the Philip S.W. Goldson International Airport, the Ministry of Immigration has gotten approval to add six more immigration clerks and increasing overtime pay for immigration officers from fifty to seventy-five hours. Cabinet was updated on the status of vaccinations and vaccines available in Belize. Currently, there are more than three hundred and seventy thousand vaccines on hand. As of November fifteenth, forty-eight percent of Belizeans have received at least one dose of the vaccine and forty-one percent have been fully vaccinated. Additionally, four thousand booster shots have been issued so far. The booster shot program is now offering boosters to all age groups. Additionally, the free testing sites which were scheduled to close at the end of November will continue to operate countrywide until the end of the year.  The M.O.H.W. has also provided seven hundred thousand dollars in food assistance to those who had to go into isolation due to COVID-19. Finally, Cabinet has approved recommendations from the Ministry of Tourism and Diaspora Relations to make certain adjustments to the current COVID-19 public health measures to take effect November twenty-second 2021. These measures will be published shortly by the Ministry of Health & Wellness.