by Linda Straker
- Vaccination site established at General Hospital
- Second vaccination site will be primarily for tourism/hospitality sector workers
- Vaccine priority list includes law enforcement officers such as police and prison officers
Within the first 8 days of Grenada receiving its first shipment of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, 146 people have received the first dose. Hundreds more are set to receive the vaccine following the Government’s decision to target tourism and other hospitality workers.
The data about who received vaccinations was released in Grenada’s Covid-19 dashboard which provides a weekly breakdown of the Covid-19 situation on the island.
The latest dashboard dated 16 February shows that there are no new or active cases on the island, but 179 are in quarantine after being allowed to enter the country under the new Covid-19 health protocol and other existing immigration legislation.
Grenada is scheduled to receive 45,600 AstraZeneca vaccines through the COVAX facility. Last week 3,000 vaccines were received as a gift from the Government of India. Among the persons who have been vaccinated are Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell, other Cabinet colleagues, the Commissioner of Police, as well as frontline healthcare workers in both the private and public sectors.
A vaccination site has been established at the General Hospital.
Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Shawn Charles disclosed on Wednesday that Government will be establishing a second vaccination as of next week, and that site will be primarily for workers in the tourism/hospitality sector. “We are at an advance stage of making the arrangement for that to occur, likely in the coming week and we will communicate the site. We have been working with the Grenada Tourism Authority and we have identified a site, a very central location, and we will be communicating that information to everyone,” Charles said in response to the estimated time for vaccinating hotel and other tourism workers.
Most of Grenada’s hotels are now classified as quarantine safe facilities and all incoming visitors are required to be quarantined before they are allowed to mix and mingle with the general population.
The island’s priority list for the Covid-19 vaccine also includes law enforcement officers such as police and prison officers.
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The gift was from India to Barbados and Dominica. Please read the statement where the Trinidad and Tobago Health Minister was forced to apologise for not acknowledging that the vaccine it got was from Barbados and not from India. In the case of Grenada and other OECS countries ,Dominica was the one who donated the vaccine from the 72 000 doses it received from India.
Tourism workers are NOT considered ESSENTIAL WORKERS. There are hundreds more that need to be at the first of the line and should have been vaccinated already. POLITICIANS also are NOT ESSENTIAL WORKERS either only arrogance and greed sees them put themselves first. Every elderly person on Grenada is at more risk than any Politician. All workers in the Hospitals ISLAND WIDE along with every cleaner, porter, lab technician, any person coming into frontline contact with a possiblity of covid 19 needs to come first. Then your persons in CARE HOMES, then descending order of age. You are a small island shouldn’t be hard to actually be organzied but oh yes, Keith is in charge. Where are all the vaccinations that have been received but not administered and where are the reasons why this still hasn’t happened.
Your tourism is not going to open any time soon with what is happening worldwide. Smarten up! Get the most at risk persons looked after FIRST!!! This should also include those handling close contact at the airport or at the Port although most of that has been changed.
For once GRENADA GOVERNMENT don’t shame yourselves with STUPID SELFISH ACTIONS regarding vaccination.
Why is the media still reporting that the vaccine was received as a gift from India. It was donated by Dominica who received it as a gift from India. Look at the case of Trinidad and Tobago who’s health Minister had to apologise because the said India when it was Barbados who gave it to them. Both Barbados and Dominica received it as a gift from India and then shared it with their Caricom counterparts.
I don’t understand why the tourism/hospitality sector is a priority for vaccination, when, with the ridiculously strict quarantine of 14 days, there will not be any tourists for the forseeable future. No flights from Canada until at least April 30th, likely much longer. They may as well shutter the hotels, as they will remain empty for the forseeable future.
Melinda, TOURISM WORKERS ARE NOT ESSENTIAL WORKERS!! Everyone in the world agrees with you. This is Keith’s stupidness. Call him out for him even having the nerve to put himself first. Don’t put up with this kind of behaviour under current circumstances.
A total of 48,600 vaccines will be sufficient for 24,300 persons. Grenada’s population is approximately 110,000.
If you exclude those under 16 years old, then there’s enough for less than 30% of the population.
At least 80% of the population needs to be vaccinated with 2 doses per person in order to achieve “herd” immunity.
I haven’t heard anything said about this huge shortfall.
Is there an assumption that people are so stupid that they cannot work this out?
You obviously missed the boat on this one.
Public health officials in many countries have apparently decided among themselves that, with vaccine doses in such short supply, they need to persuade their fellow citizens that one dose is good enough, until further notice — which means at least until 2022 or 2023.
They are probably hoping that a reduction in severe illness and the number of deaths from COVID will make the pandemic a manageable problem, and allow the re-opening of economies everywhere long before the vaccine supply actually catches up with vaccine demand.
In other words, the main focus is on society as a whole, or what is called the common interest, NOT on maximizing the protection, safety and health of the individual
Welcome to the world of socialized medicine, inspired by Karl Marx and collectivist ideologies.