Taking Personal Responsibility to Get Vaccinated

The Ministry of Health, Wellness & Elderly Affairs continues to emphasize the importance of COVID-19 vaccination, even at a time when in-country, we note a significant decrease in the number of reported cases of COVID-19 infections. This week marks two years since we saw the first reported case of COVID-19 in Saint Lucia.

During this time, we all have seen the devastation that this dreaded virus caused to our communities and country at large, as well as the global impact. To date, Saint Lucia has attained a COVID-19 vaccine coverage of 29%. This accounts for approximately 52, 852 persons being fully vaccinated. Another 3%is partially vaccinated;and 6, 908 boosters have been administered. The COVID-19 virus isn’t going away anytime soon.

The COVID-19 pandemic will not end anywhere, before it ends everywhere. Further, we know that low vaccine coverage makes us more vulnerable; and increases the risk of the country for the likely emergence and circulation of new variants. Safe and effective vaccines, which we have at our disposal, are a game-changing tool. However, it’s not vaccines that will stop the pandemic – it’s vaccination that will doit. Let’s be more proactive and less reactive.

COVID-19 vaccination has been integrated into all our primary care services. Vaccines can be accessed at ALL the Wellness Centres across the island. Equitable access to vaccines is our priority and as such, the Ministry ensures that every individual in every community has accesstovaccines for their protection, particularly the most vulnerable amongst us.

The ministry of health, Wellness & Elderly affairs, therefore encourages you to make that personal decision to protect yourself and loved ones. For those of us who have been vaccinated, this does not mean that we can throw caution to the wind, and put ourselves and others at risk.

We must continue wearing masks, cleaning our  hands, ensuring good ventilation indoors, physically distancing and avoiding crowds. It is important that we continue adhering to the protocols. We have seen and know how viruses mutate and other variants emerge. The latest news indicates that a new variant- Deltacron–hasbeen confirmed. There is still limited information about the new variant. Whilst it may seem far from us for now, remember that viruses can spread very quickly, especially through internationaltravel.