SVG to receive 14,000 COVID vaccine doses from UK

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: The island nation of St Vincent and the Grenadines - SVG is all set to receive a donation of 14,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from the government of the United Kingdom.

The government of the UK, from this week, would start delivering 9 million COVID-19 vaccines throughout the world so as to assist in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, and SVG is among the nations who will receive the donation in the initial period.

Out of these, 5 million doses would be given to COVAX, and the facility would further equally allocate it among the nations that are in urgent need of the COVID-19 vaccines; the rest 4 million COVID-19 doses would be directly distributed by the UK government.

The UK government earlier had pledged to donate 100 million vaccines overseas by June 2022, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to assist the countries.

Out of these 100 million COVID-19 vaccines, 80 million would go to the COVAX facility to assure that the needy nations are getting equitable access to the coronavirus vaccines.

Indonesia, Jamaica, and Kenya are among the other nations that would receive the donation of COVID-19 vaccines. Indonesia would receive 600,000 doses, Jamaica - 300,000 doses, and 817,000 doses would be transported to Kenya, among the other nations.

The Foreign Secretary of the UK - Dominic Raab, cited, "The UK government is sending 9 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, the first batch of the 100 million doses that we've pledged, to get the most vulnerable parts of the world vaccinated as a matter of urgency."

Dr Seth Berkley, who is the CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which is co-leading COVAX beside the World Health Organization - WHO and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, appreciated the effort of the UK government and stated that the nation has always been a constant supporter of COVAX and this announcement comes at a necessary time.

The Caribbean island so far has reported a total of 2,291 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, while a total of 2,229 patients have been recovered from the deadly virus. A total of 12 deaths have been reported on SVG due to the contagious COVID-19 virus.