“The successful development and imminent arrival of the vaccine seems like a Christmas gift we have all been waiting for.”
Premier Alden McLaughlin
(CMR) The premier confirmed in Parliament today that the government has approved a National COVID-19 vaccination plan for the Cayman Islands after confirmation that the UK government will be arranging the delivery of thousands of units of the drug in early January. He assured the country that he would be one of the first people in line for the vaccine to demonstrate his confidence in the safety of it.
He asked for people to do their due diligence and “take action to protect this community that we love so much” in accepting the vaccination plan and remains hopeful that by March the country could have acquired a large degree of herd immunity.
In his statement, he shared that “we have all been waiting for the availability of a safe and well-tested vaccine” against the dangerous viral disease. It appears that the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine; which has already been approved by the United Kingdom and Canada will be made available in the Cayman Islands.
It is impossible he noted that the first batch would arrive as early as the first week in the new year with the ability to vaccinate thousands of people. Cayman will also be utilizing the Covax facility to access an additional supply of the vaccine.
Based on international standards set by the Pan American Health Organization and Public Health England health workers and essential workers will be given priority as well the elderly and anyone with health issues that make them high risk of dying from the virus.
Despite no studies indicting how long drug-induced immunity could last he also shares that he is hopeful that the vaccine will reduce the infection rate and “generate widespread immunity”. Describing it as a “volunteer vaccination program” he stressed that to further re-open borders incoming travelers wishing to enter Cayman will have to provide proof of vaccination. This would occur during stage 2 of the vaccination program. A negative PCR test will also be required to allow them to enter without the need to quarantine.
He cautioned against the use of rapid covid testing due to its high failure rate and that should there be any community spread of covid-19 the country will return to previously implemented restrictions.
He noted that a communication plan will be unveiled soon to keep the public informed of the deployment efforts.
The entire speech can be read below.
His announcement did not go unchallenged as several questions were asked of him. The Opposition Leader, Adren McLean inquired how many and under what arrangements we would be getting the vaccines from the UK. The Premier clarified that there is no cost to Overseas Territories but there is uncertainty about how much of the vaccine would be made available to the Cayman Islands due to a shortfall of their own shipment from Belgium. The UK is expected to receive about 40 million doses by Christmas.
He also spoke about the possibility of accessing another vaccine that is easier to transport and may be available via the United States.
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