Antigua And Barbuda to receive 24,000 doses of Astrazeneca vaccine in April

Ministry of health Antigua and Barbuda stated that 24,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines would be received by the country in mid-April. It added that a sufficient number would thus be available to provide a second vaccine to those who took the first shot in February and March.

Ministry added that discussions are undergoing about the 10,000 doses that would remain.

In a Facebook post, the Office of the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda stated that all arriving passengers at the V.C. Bird International are required to take taxis to their destinations and may not have private vehicles meet them upon arrival.

The purpose is to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 disease to households in Antigua should the arriving passenger be asymptomatic; the taxi drivers have been trained and are required to wear the protective gear that will prevent them from contracting or spreading the virus. All taxi drivers were invited to be inoculated though a few declined.

Friday, the Cabinet of Antigua and Barbuda agreed to establish a "blue economy unit" under the Minister responsible for this subject. Office of the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda added that territorial seas exceed the 170 square-mile limits of its land surface more than tenfold.

The Blue Economy seeks to maximize this untapped resource by bringing expertise to the Unit, which could propose various uses, including fishing, of course. The parties that are to comprise this Unit will be drawn from those who are now employed within the public service so that the Treasury will incur no additional salaries expense.

The Minister responsible for Public Safety assured the Cabinet that all prisoners are tested for Covid. New persons assigned to Her Majesty’s Prison will be tested before being allowed to mix with the general population.

There is now a quarantine unit within the prison where those awaiting Covid test results will not be allowed to mix. A person who tests positive for Covid will be dispatched to the ABDF facility at Crabbes to await 14 days’ passage before being tested again and dispatched to HMP.

The Public Safety Minister also remarked that the Department of Immigration has a similar system for those who are being removed from the State.