THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH WILL CONTINUE TO FOLLOW SCIENCE IN RELATION TO ADMINISTERING BOOSTER SHOTS – CMO DR. LAWS

Basseterre, St. Kitts, September 30, 2021 (SKNIS): The Ministry of Health continues its vaccination programme across the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis and has acquired the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines for use in the Federation. Recently, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr. Hazel Laws, indicated that at the present moment the Ministry of Health will focus on getting more of the target population vaccinated, while it follows science in relation to booster shots.
 
“Some countries have gone and are administering booster shots to their elderly. Now in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, we are presently offering two COVID-19 vaccines, the Oxford- AstraZeneca and the Pfizer/BioNTech—both have a two-dose regiment. So, at present, our focus is that of administering those doses to the target population. So far, 75.6 percent of the target population have received the first dose, 66.7 percent of the adults in our population have received the second dose or are deemed fully vaccinated. Our aim at this time is to get the coverage rate of fully vaccinated up to 80 percent,” said CMO Dr. Laws.
 
The rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines has been very successful across the Federation with schools reopening and economic activity on the rebound. CMO Dr. Laws also spoke to the roll-out of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, and the need to get children vaccinated at the soonest possible time.
 
“In terms of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, 7.2 percent of children between the ages of 12-17 years old have already come forward and received their first dose. So, over the next two to three months the focus will be to vaccine our children. We already enjoy a very high coverage rate in terms of COVID-19 vaccination and we will continue. We will continue to monitor the science in terms of the booster shots and who are eligible for the booster shots,” said CMO Dr. Laws.
 
The vaccination roll-out programme was recently bolstered by the acquisition of 1,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis. The Ministry of Health has indicated that all clinics on St. Kitts and Nevis will be open from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM Monday to Friday and on Saturday from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM so that person can get vaccinated.