 The Ministry of Health has established the COVID-19 Vaccine Committee, which is planning and coordinating the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine introduction and deployment in country. It is expected that vaccines will be available towards the end of the first quarter of 2021. As a member of the COVAX Advanced Market Commitment AMC Group, St. Lucia will benefit from the vaccines to cover 20% of the population in Phase 1 of the distribution process as the supply of vaccines is still limited. The focus is to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines. While St. Lucia will receive its initial supply, the country will procure additional vaccines to ensure everyone who needs the vaccine receives it. St. Lucia's COVID-19 vaccine deployment will have a three-phase approach, targeting priority groups first, based on the level of exposure and risk to COVID-19. Assistant Principal Nursing Officer Teclaja Baptiste explains. The target group includes inpatient and other high-exposure healthcare workers, high-risk first responders, police and fire, persons 65 years and older, persons in elderly homes and caregivers, elderly in the communities and persons living with chronic, non-communicable diseases, prioritizing those 65 years and older than those 16 to 64 years. In the second phase, when supply is increased, the ministry will work with all stakeholders to ensure that all remaining Phase 1 are vaccinated and those targeted on the Phase 2 of the program. These include persons of medium risk, healthcare workers, firemen, policemen, caregivers, international agency personnel, and persons with non-communicable diseases. During the third phase, when there will have adequate vaccine supply to cover the general population, the Ministry of Health and Wellness will focus on vaccinating the following target populations, low-risk healthcare workers, firemen and policemen, non-essential workers, and the rest of the population. As part of the planning, the Ministry of Health and Wellness has developed a communication strategy using a multimedia approach. As St. Lucia prepares to roll out the COVID-19 vaccine introduction into the few weeks, it is important to understand the willingness of the population to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as doubts and misconceptions can negatively impact the uptake of the vaccine. To this end, a survey will be conducted aimed at gaining an insight into the attitudes of the population towards COVID-19 vaccination. While participation is voluntary, support is needed from everyone as the information provides an opportunity to inform efforts and strategies aimed at curbing the spread of the virus and keeping everyone safe. There will be an official media launch of the survey in the coming weeks. Before vaccines are made available, the Ministry of Health must ensure that the vaccine has gone through a thorough regulatory process and is pre-qualified by the World Health Organization, WHO. To date, the Pfizer vaccine is the only one which has been pre-qualified. Other vaccines such as Moderna and AstraZeneca have received emergency use approval and await the full pre-qualification from the WHO.