 Can you hear me Richmond? Can you hear me Richmond? My check, you can hear me? It's a beautiful Wednesday morning, the 7th of April 2021 and we are here for a momentous occasion in our COVID-19 response here on Island. The arrival of the first batch of Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine doses under the COVAX facility. The St. Lucia is receiving its first shipment under the COVAX facility today. If you're just joining the live, a special good morning to you. My name is Jesse Léonce. I'm joined by my colleague Carlton Coxe Cyril as we witness live from the Urinary International Airport into Fort, the arrival of a Meriget cargo flight F68332. And of course as I mentioned we are seeing a quite a turn in our COVID-19 response here on Island. Finally, the coming through of the COVAX facility with the first batch, a 24,000 doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine. That is of course the first batch of 74,400 vaccines of doses that have been promised under the COVAX facility, Carlton. Good morning. Limo F68332. That's right, Carlton. As you rightly mentioned, this arrival is proceeding a ceremony that will be held in close proximity to the arrival here at the Urinary International Airport. We're going to have the ceremony where we will have dignitaries, the Prime Minister, Hon. Alan Chastney, as well as health officials, the Minister for Health, the Senator, the Hon. Mary Isaac, as well as other dignitaries, officials who have been on the forefront of the COVID-19 response here in St. Lucia. And just to mention, you know, our COVID-19 vaccination campaign here on Island is in full swing. And the COVAX facility coming through is coming at a time when we have already vaccinated some 22,839 individuals here on Island. Of course, the aim is at this point, we did hear from the Ministry of Health indicating that this 24,000 doses coming through the COVAX facility of Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines will go towards the second doses that these individuals who received their first dose in the last few weeks would have received. So this will be going towards the second dose for individuals who so far received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. As I mentioned, we are in full swing of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. And that is in large part due to the donations by our French nation in the region and in a more extended space, the government and people of India. We did have India through their vaccine friendship program. It's being dubbed as vaccination diplomacy globally. We're seeing that we did receive a thousand vaccines from Barbados when they received their first batch from India on the 10th of February. And we did receive a donation of 2,000 vaccines from Dominica the following day and later on from St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the summer 5,000 doses. And of course, as I mentioned, they were the first to receive in the region their batches from the government and people of India. Another reason to be proud of our region of this and in turn, when St. Lucia did receive its first batch of vaccines, vaccine doses from India received 20,000 doses to the end of February. It did in turn donate some 5,000 doses to Grenada. And we were one of four islands in the region to donate vaccine doses to Grenada because they had not yet received their donation from India. And speaking of India, the program, the vaccination program that they have a foot donating to many countries in the world, the sum of countries that have been received that have been beneficiaries of India's goodwill is 49 countries globally. So 49 countries from the Caribbean, from Latin America, from Asia, Africa have received vaccines through the from the Indian government through their their program in total 22.9 million doses have been donated by the government of India. But today, if you're just joining the live, we have so fussy in donations coming from India in the last few weeks, which jumpstarted our COVID-19 vaccination program. But today, right behind me, a flight, a cargo flight coming into St. Lucia at the Urinal International Airport. We have the first batch of vaccines coming through the Covax facility through which St. Lucia is assigned. And of course, we are expecting 74,400 vaccine doses from the Covax facility. However, today we will be receiving 24,400 in this batch are awaiting the arrival of the permanent star Honorable Alan Chastney. And he should be coming soon along with other officials from the government of St. Lucia to formally accept on the tarmac. We do have also territories who are in at the jet center, right? That's in close proximity to the tarmac. They will proceed with a ceremony to formalize the receipt of this first batch of vaccines under the Covax facility. Change Avança aussi, nous jouons Horde Babad. Babad banu an Saioa, qui c'était nous en 3000. Et puis là, nous en a lot, 2000 Horde Dominique. Et puis nous jouons Horde gouvernement CFC. Babad, y'en mille? Y'en mille Horde Babad. Nous en 5000 Horde gouvernement CFC. Qu'on a tout. Nous tenons appuyer huit mille Horde Lepey qui assistait nous. Il est bien important pour vous savoir, je dirais, ça nous rajoutons ces facilités à côté majorité, mais la terre qu'a joué une vaccine ça. Y'a-t-on pour mettre en bagaille en place, pour manier mon sa juine vaccina. Poudat nous a vacciné 22 839 mon. Ça c'est 22, 22 839 mon. Ça tout fait qu'on a vacciné un va programe nous. Et puis nous rappelons le premier dose vaccina. Changer AstroZeneca, on est pour les deux doses. Et puis, il est bien important aussi pour nous savoir, je dirais, vaccine qui a continué. Y'a pas continué par mon vaccina. Et puis y'a un souffuillet. Y'a un souffuillet, je dirais, un grand lac ou un souffuillet. Quand j'ai Munkahoua, Munkahoua, c'est pour ça qui a fait, là. Changer Lepey, ministre Slanté, parler, nous dis, nous désibosez, hein, tout, 64400. Et bien ça, nous sommes 24000 jordia. Et puis, on a bien compté pour ça, ça c'est pour commencer Munkahoua, deuxième dose, là, il est venu pour vacciner. On a bien compté, nous j'annu, avec Munkahoua, vous même comptez pour connaître, developement ça, qu'il y a point quoi. Et quand j'ai, c'est déjà dit, Munkahoua, d'ailleurs, nous, y'a eu un débat de vaccina, mais là, c'est un programme, un tea ceremony, qu'il y a point quoi, dedans, building, là, dedans, lounge, là, côté premier ministre, Sinc-Lissio-Narab, Allan Chassner, a permis, a lot dignité, a permis au ministre de santé, mais Maria Isa Kaila, représentative power, Kaila, et puis, a lot, ma'am, qui directement évolvait, les vignes pour vaccination et puis, programme-là. Pour encore, pas dite à nous capaler, au cas où ça, qui a fait de nous, y'a eu un débat de ces vaccina, pour à d'un moment, nous caillons trois ans dedans, et puis, c'est la ceremony, qui a point coup, en plus de taille. Mais pour à présent, et puis, nous, qu'on n'a pas eu de taille, You're absolutely right, Carlton. Definitely looking forward to the ceremony that will follow the arrival and the dismounting of the shipment this morning. I just want to let you know so far, the word we're receiving from the Ministry of Health, in terms of the vaccinations that have happened on Island today to 22,839 individuals have received their first dose of the vaccine. And this first batch that we're receiving from the Covax facility is coming just in time, Carlton, because we've seen from the time we had the first set of vaccinations from 17 February, where that's when the vaccination campaign started, it's just about time for these individuals to receive their second dose. And these 24,400 doses coming through the Covax facility is very, very timely. As I mentioned, the campaign did begin on the 17th of February, it started with Phase 1A, and this was targeting healthcare workers in clinical settings, also first responders and a security service personnel, as well as other frontline workers. They're on the front lines responding to COVID-19, putting their lives at risk really. They were prioritized in the first instance, as well as some of our country leaders at the time. And Phase 1B, which also ran simultaneously, we saw individual 65 years and older, the aged population, residents of elderly homes, also people living with chronic health conditions were prioritized in Phase 1B. And at this time, I think we're also prioritizing various sectors, the tourism sector has been prioritized. The education sector this week is being prioritized. Today, the Suffer Hospital is the place to be if you want to get vaccinated. You can pre-register, hmi.govt.lc. And of course, get vaccinated, go ahead onto the Suffer Hospital. Tomorrow, the locations, Carlton, you have them ready. So if you want to get vaccinated tomorrow, you can in the meantime pre-register and then tomorrow head on over to the VG Sports Complex to get vaccinated. Yesterday, it was at the Philip Marsley Grounds and also the Darren Sammy Cricket Grounds. Just yesterday, our persons had that opportunity to get vaccinated. Today, Suffer Hospital and tomorrow, the VG Sports Complex. It is an opportunity for you to protect yourself and your family. You can read up more about the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine. It's what's on this flight as we speak. So individuals who've received their first dose of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, they will be able to get their second dose in the coming weeks. But to remind you, the education sector this week is being prioritized, as efforts are for to reopen the education sector in the physical setting. And so principals, teachers and silvery staff, everyone is being encouraged to get vaccinated. If you're just joining the live, a special good morning to you. We are coming to you, Carlton and myself, Jesse, coming to you live from the Urinori International Airport in Viewfort, where we await the flight has already arrived. It has landed, but we await the arrival of the Prime Minister for the formal acceptance of this shipment of vaccines, the first batch of vaccines under the COVAX facility. And you know, unlike the India arrangement where we saw the Government of India through Goodwill giving a one-off donation through the COVAX facility, we have some 74,400 doses that we can look forward to. Today is just the first batch that we're getting. And the COVAX facility has been months in the making. This has been happening for so much time, world leaders trying to arrange and assemble doses of vaccines for populations that are at risk. You know, St. Lucia is one of those populations where we're not necessarily able to compete on the world stage for, you know, really good vaccines. And through the COVAX facility, the St. Lucia population is able to access, we are able to access large numbers, high numbers, high volumes of the Oxford AstraZeneca doses. And so it is a momentous occasion. It is a momentous occasion in the fight against COVID-19. And we're coming upon a full year. We are in a year in this COVID-19 fight. And definitely we are beginning to see the results of the work that started at the advent of the pandemic. We have a lot of work to do. Today is the 7th of July. We are opening the first part of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine. We are not here to open the first part of the vaccine. After that, we have Prime Minister Aladdin Chasnekar who is opening the vaccine. And we have more information about the program that we are doing today. But for example, Jesse and I are here to give you information about what we are doing and what we are doing here. First of all, the people who come here have to buy 24,000 AstraZeneca doses. Change the COVAX facility. We are selling 74,400 AstraZeneca doses. That means we are selling 24,000 AstraZeneca doses. That means we are selling 54,400 AstraZeneca doses. The COVAX facility is in place for all other countries with the Earth to open the vaccine. We are doing this because we know that if we are able to depend on the people who come here to open the vaccine, we are going to have to do what we are told. But thank you for joining us. To continue, we have to change the COVAX facility. We have to open the vaccine and the government. And we have to buy 25,000 AstraZeneca doses. We have to buy 25,000 AstraZeneca doses because we have to open the vaccine. We have to change the COVAX facility. We have to buy 25,000 AstraZeneca doses, we have to buy 25,000 AstraZeneca doses, and we have to buy 25,000 AstraZeneca doses as well. We have to buy the S washing machine. And we have to buy the COVID-19 vaccine. We have to buy 25,000 AstraZeneca doses in Toulouse. We have to buy the COVAX facility. We are doing this because the government is telling us that we have to buy 25,000 AstraZeneca doses to open the vaccine. and the essential work of the government. This is where we started. After we started working, I started working in Munn, which is 65 years old. This is where I started working. I started working in Munn, which is in Cairo. It's a big city here. After we started working, we were paying attention to the school, the school teacher, who was boned to get a vaccination 35 times per year has been vaccinated do you want to get the vaccination? I heard a lot about a lot of that. We really wanted that job as well. That's when we had to, and finally, start the vaccination in Iwan figitly, we are one of the biggest health centers. The word that we're receiving from the Ministry of Health but the word we're receiving from the Ministry of Health and Wellness for the last 24 hours is that St. Lucia is recording seven new cases of COVID-19 and of course these samples were processed on the 5th of April and this was out of 86 samples. These seven individuals as per usual were seen at various community clinics on island. They were assessed and tested and asked to remain in isolation pending the outcome and they are now being treated for the coronavirus. We also had confirmation of the recovery of eight individuals with COVID-19 and this brings the total number of active cases in country to date to 124. Presently unfortunately we do have one active case in critical condition. We do hope that they're able to pull through bringing the total number of cases to 4,304 since last year March. 4,304 cases registered on island and the active cases and I know it's much to the satisfaction of the Ministry of Health down to 124 cases and it has been tita-tottering in the last few days in that vicinity. As of March 31st, the end of March we had 22,834, as of 7th April so today is the word we're receiving from the Ministry of Health of the over 22,000. At this time we are going to witness the arrival of the Prime Minister to formally accept on tarmac the dispatch coming from and coming through the Covax facility today Wednesday the 7th of April 2021. Prime Minister Hon. Alan Shastney I know that the Minister for Health and Wellness Senator the Hon. Mary Isaac will be in tow as well. We have representatives from the Pan American Health Organization. They have been great advocates for our region in terms of accessing vaccines for our part of the world and at this point in time St. Lucia being the latest to receive its first batch of from and through the Covax facility. Definitely a momentous day for us in terms of our fight against COVID-19 and we so far had over 22,000 persons vaccinated and the hope at this point in time with this receipt of 24,000 doses is that these same individuals would receive their second dose of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine. Absolutely today is the day our first Covax vaccine arrival the first batch of vaccines 24,000 doses will be formally received by our Prime Minister the Hon. Alan Shastney through this Covax facility and it is the first of many batches that we are to expect. It's a total of 74,400 doses that we should be expecting through the Covax facility. Immediately after this formality on the tarmac we will have a ceremony at the jet center. It's a close proximity to the location where the cargo plane is at. We can expect the Prime Minister of St. Lucia Hon. Alan Shastney to be present there, Minister for Health Senator the Hon. Mary Isaac, Minister for External Affairs Hon. Sarah Floodbober, also the British High Commissioner, His Excellency Steve McCready, PAHO Country Program Specialist, Mr. Ronald Hewitt and it's very important to note that it has been a very wide affair in terms of the agencies and the organizations that have been involved in today happening in terms of the Covax facility and St. Lucia and many other locations and many other countries around the world benefiting. We do also have the Chief Medical Officer for St. Lucia, Dr. Sharon Belmont George in the jet center at this time. Everyone is really on standby for the formal acceptance of this shipment before the ceremony to transpire on the inside. We have the Ambassador for CARICOM and OECS, Her Excellency Elma Jean Isaac, also Immunization Manager, Tekla Jabatist and she has been very vocal. She's also the Assistant Principal Nursing Officer speaking to us and always keeping us updated in terms of our the vaccination drive here on Ireland. We also have the Principal Nursing Officer, Juliette Frederick Cassius, also Deputy Immunization Manager, Brunadette Rages, the Permanent Secretaries in the various involved ministries, also Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Jenny Daniel, Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Glensford Joseph. We have the Procurement Officer, Alison Jean, performer for the ceremony on the inside. We can look forward to a performance from Naomi Grandison. She is also a registered nurse and somebody who's been at the forefront of the sensitization efforts within the Ministry of Health and Wellness. And we do have a recent COVID-19 patient, a civilian in the person of Delta Benjamin, who will be speaking during the ceremony, giving their account of their COVID-19 experience and also the road to recovery. And of course, we also have, we will also have presented the Airport Manager. This has been quite an undertaking. What you're seeing is on your screen right now is a very small portion of the work that is ongoing right now. We do have cameras at various locations and personnel at various locations at the Urinary International Airport, all ensuring that we can capture this momentous occasion today, the first batch of the doses of vaccine through the COVAX facility being received by St. Lucia. 14,000 doses of oxygen AstraZeneca in the COVAX facility. That's Excellency Elma Isaac, he's here. Leivini for manager, Leivini for immunization, Nakika for what? Maser Teclange Batis, Pierre Saint-Wangé for Sakika Alia. Enos, Leivini, in the Department of Health. That's Juliette, Federica Cias, he's here with us. We have a very good representative here. We have 24,000 doses of AstraZeneca. Again, we apologize a lot for what we've done, but that's because we have a lot of activities to do. We have a lot of vaccines to do. We have a lot of vaccines to do. We have a lot of vaccines to do. It's also important to say to us about the vaccines. We have about 22,000 people I found vaccinated. Follow us and be with us. We have a lot of activities to do. We have a lot of vaccines to do. Prime Minister, you're coming in a moment. You have a lot of vaccines and the actions you take to commit suicide in the country, we have a lot of vaccines to do. Yes, we are. On the part of squared zero. This is important. Thank you. We invite you, our viewers, to stay tuned. Minister Hon. Alan Chastney to formally receive the first batch of doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine through the COVAX facility on the tarmac and then subsequently we can look forward to a ceremony, a formal ceremony to be held at the jet center where we will, I am sure of it, hear from the various officials in retrospect and in hopes for the future now that we are receiving this additional batch of vaccines. We've heard from the Ministry of Health that this batch of vaccines, the 24,000 doses of Oxford AstraZeneca will go toward the second phase of our national vaccination campaign. We so far seen through phase 1A and 1B thousands, 22,000, almost 23,000 at this point individuals receiving the first dose of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine at this point in time since we started at 17th February, giving the first vaccine on 17th February. It's about time for these same individuals who received their first dose of the vaccine to get their second dose and we were expecting the vaccines to come either Monday, Carton or Tuesday, one day late but it's very much on time and we're definitely very grateful that we're able to receive such assistance. Countries like St. Lucia are vulnerable in the sense that, you know, when it comes to the clamoring for vaccines, you have many countries who have deeper pockets, who have a greater reach and they're able to do much more in terms of securing vaccines for their population. But thankfully through the Covax facility, countries, vulnerable countries like St. Lucia are able to get a share of the pie of the vaccine pie globally and we're so fortunate to be able to receive today's batch to be able to get more of our population inoculated toward the greater goal of herd immunity here on Ireland so we can get back to some sense of normalcy as pre-COVID. Many of you would recall and it's hard to remove from the memory at this time what we have been through in the last year. Many sectors have been impacted. Our economy has been impacted. The pandemic has, you know, taken so much resource from the government posts at this time and the effort now on the part of the government of St. Lucia, the Alan Shastney administration is to recover slowly but steadily from the impact of COVID-19 and part of that recovery is the hope in the vaccination and of course today the first of many batches that we're going to receive through the Covax facility today is 24,000 and we are supposed to receive in total 74,400 doses through the Covax facility. We just want to let you know that, you know, there has been such a great show of solidarity in the region prior to the accept to today's event and we know that many other islands in the region are receiving their batches of vaccines through the Covax facility but prior to this we saw the goodwill. We saw the heartwarming demonstration of nation to nation love, you know, and it really began with the government of India making a donation to countries around the world through their vaccine program and 22.9 million doses of vaccines they were able to give out to countries around the world and St. Lucia being a lucky beneficiary. We were able to receive 25,000 doses of the vaccine and prior to that we were able to, you know, benefit from the receipt of other islands in the region. When Barbados received their first batch from India, their donation from India, we received a thousand. When Dominica received their batch from India, their donation from India, we received two thousand and Sylvinson and the Grenadines, we received five thousand from them as well. And in turn when St. Lucia received its 25,000 doses from India, that donation, we were able to in turn make a donation to the government of Grenada for their national vaccination campaign to kick start. So definitely it's very heartwarming, this whole vaccination conversation has been very heartwarming. We have seen love from all fronts, really. And we do hope this continues. We do hope that we can continue to see as particularly in our region this sort of solidarity going forward. I want to remind you of the figures. We've had 23,000 people being vaccinated so far. That's the word we've just received from the immunization manager, Ms. Jebatis, Takla Jebatis. We do hope that during this week, today is vaccinations happening at the Sufer Hospital, tomorrow at the VG Sports Complex. You have an opportunity to get vaccinated, bring along with you your ID card. If you can, pre-register HMI.govt. At this point in time, we do have the arrival of the Prime Minister. Yes, we do see the Prime Minister walking on to the tarmac right now. And he is accompanied by several dignitaries at this time. And they include, they include the Minister for Health, Honourable, the Senator, Honourable Mary Isaac. Several other dignitaries I could see, the PAHO representative, the PAHO country program specialist Mr. Reynolds Ewitt. We also have the British High Commissioner, His Excellency Steve McCready, the Minister for External Affairs, some members of the Cabinet, Minister for External Affairs, the Honourable Sara Floodboeber, Minister for Health Senator, Honourable Mary Isaac, also the Ambassador for CARICOM and the OECS, Her Excellency Elma Jean Isaac, Immunization Manager, Takla Jebatis, an individual who's been at the forefront of our vaccination campaign here in St. Lucia. And also, not forgetting, the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Sharon Velma George, they are all on standby, of course, also with some paraphernalia in promotion of the vaccination campaign here on Ireland. Again, Carlton, quite a momentous occasion. It has brought our GIS team, several dignitaries, government officials and other organizers. Momentous occasion. The COVAX Facility, the first batch, St. Lucia is in receipt. And then, a lot of dignitaries, a lot of official governments. We have a minister, for example, Poteneuilier, Honourable Mary Isaac, the minister who is responsible for health. We also have Dr. Tecla Jebatis, the manager for Immunization We have a representative, Pao, and then Lord Jean Midia. We have all of them. What they do here is, Prime Minister Kayouisouve, an AstraZeneca vaccine here in St. Lucia. 24,000 people are here, for example. 24,000 people are here, for example. We have 64,400 people here. And then, after that, Jesse, we have Prime Minister Lanzan, Minister Santé, and then the official, Kamashé. And then we have the AstraZeneca vaccine, 24,000 people who are here, for example. Absolutely, and we do see that there is some formation ongoing with the organizers and the officials close to the batches of the vaccines at this time. I just want to let you know also that the flight came in earlier than expected and we did have the Prime Minister Southbound and before he arrived, the flight was already in. So that can be attributed to some of the delay in some of the formalities this morning. However, we are back on schedule for the formal acceptance on Tarmac. If you're just joining the live, a special good morning to you. We are in view for today. It's a sunny morning, momentous occasion, the first batch of Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines through the COVAX facility. Mind you, we have received vaccines through donations from friendly countries, including India before. Okay, we can now see the Prime Minister making contact with the shipments. Absolutely, and I'm not sure what mechanism was at play, but he did assess and he did go around both of the shipments and the following which there was an applause from the dignitaries. So definitely a sign of approval that everything is going according to plan this morning. And now a photo opportunity happening. But I need to put a program in place to say thank you for all the information and for making us know that we are always there. What we have to do is to make it sit down and then these vaccines can continue to be put in place to fight against the corona. And then count well said, the best energy since the 17th. Absolutely, this is watershed in our COVID-19 response. We know many countries around the world have been waiting for their share through the COVAX facility and St. Lucia's day has finally come. We've seen the first batch of vaccines, the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, coming through 24,000 vaccine doses coming through here today. St. Lucia, this is momentous. This is significant after the last year of many persons battling COVID-19. Many persons succumbing. We remember them at this time. St. Lucia is able to do better and this means that we're able to have many more persons inoculated as the Ministry of Health indicated. They are able to through this first batch, receive through the COVAX facility, vaccinate the individuals who've received their first doses. So these individuals, as for Oxford AstraZeneca, receive full immunity as for this vaccine. And so this is very, very, very significant. And not to worry, there is more on the way. 24,000 doses through the COVAX facility today, but we are to expect more. The total number of vaccines we're to expect through the COVAX facility is 74,400 doses. At this time, we're still seeing photo opportunities being taken out on the tarmac. The officials are still there. And we should expect in short order a continuation of the proceedings indoors in the shade with a ceremony at the jet center, which is in close proximity to where we are at the plane. Okay, so we are now preparing to head on in to the jet center. We do invite you to stay tuned. There is a program that has been prepared We will be hearing from the Prime Minister following this display on the tarmac, hearing from the Prime Minister, also the Minister for Health, Senator, the Honourable Mary Isaac, Minister for External Affairs, Honourable Sarah Flood-Bobra, British High Commissioner, His Excellency Steve McCready. Also present at that ceremony, the Paahu Country Program Specialist. We know the Pan American Health Organization has been very active in the advocacy and otherwise in ensuring that St. Lucia as well as the other member states benefit from the COVAX facility. We'll have the Representative, the Specialist Program Specialist, Mr. Randall Hewitt, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sharon Belmar George, also the Ambassador for Carrick Home, OECS, Her Excellency Elma Jean Isaac, Immunization Manager, Techlege Batiste, Principal Nursing Officer, Juliette Frederick Caches, Deputy Immunization Manager, Bernadette Rages, and many other officials from government and other agencies who've been involved in this effort amounting to today. Do stay tuned as we prepare to head on back into the Jet Center. And at this point in time, we just want to hand over to Carlton Cyril, my colleague who is now on the inside and he will take over from there until I get back in as well. Stay tuned, Carlton. In our international effort, of course, under that COVAX agreement, what is happening is we are receiving our first fat of 24,000 vaccines. We would remember the Prime Minister made mention to St. Lucia's part of that COVAX facility we were entitled to an initial 74,400 vaccines. So a historic day for St. Lucia as we see the arrival of 24,000 Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine. And just before we continue with our program inside the VIP launch on the tarmac, we are seeing the Prime Minister, Honorable Alan Shastney, together with other dignitaries and, of course, persons from the Ministry of Health. We have Representative of POW. We have the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Belma George, taking the opportunity, of course, for us to make this documentation, photoshoot together with the media. And we here at the GIS bringing you this as it happens. So right now they are making the way to come where the program will continue inside the VIP launch. Of course, we would expect that the Prime Minister would utter some words, of course, updating the nation and giving some more information. And we ask you to continue to stay with us as we bring the activity happening here live. Ladies and gentlemen, we are here and one day it will be very simple, that's what we are doing. We are going to open 24,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine. As the Prime Minister has already said, we are going to open 64,000 vaccines. And, of course, we are going to open the VIP launch. And then we are going to go to St. Lucie. I will first take a look at that, which is 24,000 AstraZeneca vaccines. We have changed it to 74,400, which is 24,000 already. So we are going to have a Marrijet cargo flight. And then the Prime Minister has already said that we can do that. He has already examined it. And then the official lot. And then now the activity is going to take place in the launch. Next to us are the people who are represented here, as well as the Prime Minister here. The Prime Minister is responsible for the health of our Marri Isaac. We have Sarah Flood, a brother. We have the High Commission here. Steve Excellency, Steve McGridgy. At the moment, they are conducting a meeting that is responsible for Fennel Neptune, and they are going to continue their activity here. We are right now into the launch. And of course, we are seeing the walking of the arrival of the Prime Minister, Honorable Alan Shasny, together with other dignitaries. We could always see Senator Honorable Mary Isaac. And we will have the official ceremony, where we will hear from these officials. And of course, our master of ceremony from the Department of Health, none other than Fennel Neptune. She will be taking over when we make the change. But for now, you are now seeing the arrival of our dignitaries, media personalities, as we bring the live coverage of the COVAX vaccine arrival, an initial 24,000 out of 74,400. Well represented here. We could see British High Commission. Commissioner here. His Excellency, Steve McGridgy. Honorable Sarah Flatbobrain, Minister of External Affairs. We could also see Minister of Health among the dignitaries here. We could see our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Sharon Belma-George. Here we have our Immunization Manager, Tecla Jean-Bartis. And we could also see Principal Nursing Officer, Juliette Frederick. Among other persons, a Deputy Immunization Manager, Bernadette Regis. And of course, Permanent Secretary, Minister of External Affairs, Simon. So as we prepare for our brief ceremony to mark the arrival of our COVAX vaccine, right here at the Juranora International Airport, we are at the IAM facility. We expect that we would hear briefly from our dignitaries and invited guests. As per our official program, we will be hearing shortly from the Immunization Manager, Tecla Jean-Bartis. Of course, right before that, we would have the National Anthem. And our official host here would be Fonelle Neptune. Of course, we continue. The program would see Power Country Manager Specialist, Reynald Witt. And of course, a performance by Naomi A. Granderson, followed by a Speech Minister of Health, Senator Hon. Mary Isaac. We have a speech from a frontliner. Also a recovered COVID patients. And then we would have our closing remarks from Dr. Joseph. So definitely, ladies and gentlemen, you could stay in touch with us while we bring the activity as it happens. The arrival of 24,000 COVID vaccine, AstraZeneca vaccine for the COVID-19. And what you're seeing right now is preparation for us to move over to Master of Ceremony, which is none other than Fonelle Neptune, who is going to take over this proceeding. Our brief handing over ceremony of the COVID vaccine. Live broadcast is brought to you right here on NTN. We encourage you to stay tuned as we continue to bring you the live coverage happening right now. The COVID vaccine handover ceremony here at what is called the Jet Center. And a historic day in Saint Lucia, the 7th, April 7th, 2021. So we are now handing over to Fonelle Neptune, who is the Master of Ceremony in here, who is going to take over from us right now. A pleasant good day everyone, and welcome to the official ceremony of the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccines for the COVID-19 facility. I am your mistress of this ceremony, Fonelle Neptune. First, I would like to recognize the presence of dignitaries and other specially invited guests. The Honorable Prime Minister, Honorable Alan Shastney, Minister for Health, Senator the Honorable Mary Isaac, Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Jenny Danielle, Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Sharon Belma-George, Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Glensford Joseph, PAHO Country Program Specialist, Reynolds Ewitt, British High Commissioner, Mr. Steve McCreary, Assistant Bishop of Pentecostal, Assembly of the West Indies, Pastor Lazarus Eugene, Members of the Health Team, Office of the Prime Minister, other specially invited guests, welcome everyone. It is indeed a momentous occasion for us in St. Lucia, as we receive 24,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine through the COVAX facility. We will first start with the official ceremony with prayers. I now call on the Assistant Bishop of Kawi, Pastor Lazarus Eugene. May it be to God. If we have, and I know we do have conflicts, you can pay your homage. Oh, thank you Jesus. This morning I am extremely honored to be here, knowing that we solutions acknowledge God in all our affairs. I know that thousands of solutions have been praying over the last year concerning this virus. And this morning it is an honor to be here and we continue praying, knowing that even in the vaccine, God gave men wisdom to develop it. I believe God took care of this plane fried safely to St. Lucia. I believe God touched some hearts that people donate and make contributions so that we could have a vaccine. The Bible says in Psalm 127, verses one and two, unless the Lord builds a house, they labor in vain who builds it. Unless the Lord guards a city, the watchman stays up in vain. It is vain for us to rise up early and to sit down late to eat the bread of sorrows. For so he gives his beloved sleep. Now a person who wrote that is Solomon. One of the persons history and Bible declared to be one of the most most powerful man in terms of wisdom. And he wrote that after building the two most lavish buildings of his time, the Temple of God and his own house. And he said, I built them, 30,000 people worked on them for 14 years. However, he acknowledged I couldn't do that without God. And this morning we want to bless God. We want to thank Him. We have some vaccine here. The scientists couldn't develop it without God. The plane couldn't fly here with it without God. The nurses administering it will not do a good job without God. And there's one little area I'm going to touch on. Even administering it, we have to pray that not one person in St. Lucia will develop any serious reaction to the virus, to the vaccine, sorry. Because this is what people are looking for. A cause for us not to take it. Father, we thank you today. We bless you, my God. We acknowledge your presence in the development of this vaccine. We thank you, Lord. You woke us up this morning. And Lord, you gave us safe passage to this place. We thank you, God, for the wisdom that you have blessed our leaders with in this country throughout the last 12 or so months. Father, guiding us safely is a safe journey when other more powerful, more wealthy nations suffered such tremendous loss in terms of finances and human life. You protected us. We say thank you, my God. Father, I pray this morning that you continue to bless those people of God who developed this vaccine, those establishments. Father, those who made financial contributions and other contributions that the vaccines can be in St. Lucia, those who are going to administer it. I pray, Father, that you continue to bless them, you guide them, you protect them. And Lord, you give them the wisdom to determine when and where who should receive it first. And I pray even now, Father, that we as a nation, we as a people will be obedient to the authorities you have placed over us, who makes tremendous sacrifice night and day, sacrificing even their careers sometimes to ensure our well-being, our good health. Lord, I pray, God, that the immune system of the people of St. Lucia will respond well to the vaccine. And at the end of it all, when all is said and done and the majority of solutions are vaccinated, we will say it was good. I pray, Father, that you place in the hearts of leaders, community leaders, that we will encourage our people to do the right thing and be vaccinated. But I pray for the remainder of this ceremony today that it will go well and your name will be glorified at the end of it all. Let your name forever be praised, my God. In all that we do, have your way in our lives. In Jesus' name and everybody says, amen. Thank you very much, Pastor Lazarus Eugene, for the prayers. We now move to the national unfam. If we can please stand and stand at attention. Please be seated. Of course, for us at the Ministry of Health, we have been battling with the COVID-19 pandemic. And the vaccine is one of the areas that is very important to us. And there's someone from the health team who is very instrumental and play a very significant part as it relates to vaccination. I now call on the National Immunization Manager, Ms. Tekla Jabbatis, to provide us welcome remarks. Dress of ceremonies. Honourable Prime Minister, Alan Chastney, Minister of Health and Wellness, Honourable Senator, Mary Isaac, Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Ms. Jenny Daniel, Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Sharon Belma George, Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Glensford Joseph, Power Country Program Specialist, Mr. Reynolds Eewitt, British High Commissioner, Mr. Steve McCreedy, the Assistant Bishop of the Pentecostal Assembly of the West Indies, Pastor Lazarus Eugene, Members of the Health Team, Office of the Prime Minister, other invited guests, ladies and gentlemen, a pleasant good morning. It's indeed an honour to welcome you at this momentous ceremony to witness the arrival of the first batch of vaccines allocated to St. Lucia through the COVAX facility, a moment that we all keenly anticipated. Like the rest of the world, COVID-19 has affected us tremendously, causing loss of lives and livelihoods, affecting the economy, and increasing the burden of disease. St. Lucia reported its first case of COVID-19 on the 13th of March 2020, a little over one year ago. Globally, more than 131 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported to the World Health Organization with more than 2 million lives lost. In our small island, 4,304 cases have been reported and 63 lives lost due to COVID-19, as at the 6th of April 2021. The development and approval of safe and effective vaccines against the COVID-19 virus has indeed brought hope in the battle against this pandemic. Vaccines have been proven to be one of the most cost-effective public health strategies and have saved millions of lives and reduced the burden of infectious diseases. For the National Immunisation Program, and by extension the Government of St. Lucia, the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine is a major milestone in reducing coronavirus transmission and the burden of disease. The COVID-19 vaccine will not only protect our citizenry from severe COVID-19 infection and death, but is also a major step towards achieving some sense of normalcy. The National COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign was launched on the 17th of February 2021, focusing on priority groups such as frontline workers, senior citizens and people living with chronic conditions, all of which are at particularly high risk of severe COVID-19 infection if they are infected by the virus. As of the 6th of April 2021, 22,839 first doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine have been administered. This represents approximately 12.6% of our population. For us, this is a significant achievement within a short space of time. The response has been very encouraging and this demonstrates that the citizens of St. Lucia appreciate the health benefits of vaccines. It further demonstrates that collectively we embrace the opportunity to regain some measure of normalcy and are committed to continue fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, which has now challenged us for over one year now. We are proud to have complimented the other public health measures with vaccination to fight the COVID-19 battle. COVID-19 battle, COVAX aims to ensure equitable vaccine distribution. St. Lucia, as a member of the COVAX facility, will have the benefit of accessing safe and effective vaccines to cover 20% of its population. Today, we receive 24,000 doses of this allocation. As we transition into phase two of the national campaign, this first stretch will allow us to vaccinate approximately 6.6% of the population and that's with two doses. This will be part of the national effort to build immunity against the COVID-19 virus and also strengthen public health strategies to manage this pandemic. Remember, we are all in this together. No one is safe until we are all safe. Vaccinate for you, for yours, for us. We thank everyone involved in the effort in securing these vaccines. Once again, I welcome you to this special ceremony. Thank you. Thank you, nurse Gervattis. The Pan American Health Organization has been providing much-needed support towards St. Lucia's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and one of the areas they have contributed significantly towards is the procurement of the vaccines in general. I now call on the PAHO Country Program Specialist, Mr. Reynolds Ewitt, to provide us with some remarks. Thank you very much. Please allow me to accept the protocol that was already established. I am pleased to be here this morning with you to bring a brief remarks on behalf of the Pan American Health Organization, World Health Organization and the representative of Barbrades and the Eastern Caribbean, Dr. Ithides Gebre. I extend warm and heartfelt greetings on his behalf and, regrettably, he is unable to be here this morning with you for such an important public health event. Honorable Prime Minister, the start of vaccine rollout is a hopeful step in the fight against this virus and PAHO is proud to facilitate this urgently needed effort in St. Lucia. Our region, the Americas, will have to immunize at least 700 million people against COVID-19, which is a significant public health undertaking, of which 147,000 persons are targeted to be vaccinated in St. Lucia. Today, the Pan American Health Organization as a procurement agency for the Covax facility is delivering the first allocation of 24,000 doses to the Ministry of Health and the Government of St. Lucia. Access to COVID-19 vaccines should not be a privilege for the few, but a right that we all share regardless of who we are and where we are from. PAHO is supporting countries in distributing COVID-19 vaccines to their populations, building on their long-standing experience with vaccination campaigns and immunization programs. Around 142 million people have received at least one dose of vaccines in the Americas as of April 1. That is 26 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean. As our PAHO Director, Dr. Carissa Etienne recently mentioned, immunization in Latin America and the Caribbean should be a global priority and our region needs vaccines as much as possible to vaccinate as many persons as possible and to save as many lives. The arrival of Covax vaccine in our region and today in St. Lucia is a historic milestone as well as a combination of months of negotiations and commitment to global solidarity. In an effort coordinated by PAHO Revolving Fund, approximately 2.7 million doses have been delivered and are deployed throughout the region of the Americas. The PAHO Revolving Fund is facilitating access to COVID-19 vaccines for countries in the Americas that are participating in the Covax facility and is working with UNICEF and vaccine manufacturers to organize deliveries as quickly as possible. The doses and availability of vaccines under Covax are subject to emergency use approval by WHO, the manufacturing production capacity, as well as establishing supply agreements between the producers under Covax facility. The pre-qualifications of vaccines to be used through Covax allows PAHO to offer vaccines with the highest effectiveness and safety standards. The vaccine supplies continue to be a great challenge and a large part of this is due to delays in production as manufacturers scale up capacity. The goal of the Covax facility is to provide vaccines for at least 20% of the population in each participating country globally. With this aim of protecting those at risk and to save as many lives as possible, Covax remains the best option to offer vaccines with equity. Under Prime Minister, while there is hope, while there is reasons for hope, we must also remember that doses are limited and it will be several months before we can rely on vaccines to control this virus. Our goal must be to save as many lives as possible by prioritizing early doses for those who are at high risk of infection, sorry for those who are at high risk of infection. These first vaccines will help us to leverage the initial limited number of doses for greater impact, preventing hospitalization and death and protecting health workers and reducing the strain on our health systems. Vaccines will help to save lives and eventually halt the pandemic. But with around 57 million confirmed cases and close to two million deaths as of April 3, countries in the eastern Caribbean and our region in general must maintain public health measures to limit exposure to the virus. Social distancing, limited gathering, the consistent use of face masks in public setting and frequent hand washing are the public health measures that are effective for reducing the number of COVID-19 vaccines at this time. Finally, please accept, Mr. Prime Minister, our sincere congratulations and appreciation for your strong leadership to the national COVID-19 response effort today here in St. Lucia and accessing the COVID vaccine through the COVID facility this year. We continue to be supportive to St. Lucia and the government in the fight against COVID-19. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Yuwit, for reiterating your organization's commitment to ensure that St. Lucia is supplied with COVID-19 vaccines. Thank you. Another contributor in facilitating the vaccines through the COVID facility was the British High Commission. Today we have with us the British High Commissioner, Mr. Steve Bakridi, who will speak with us on his support providing. Good morning, everyone. Please allow me to go up to the protocol that's already been established as well. I'm very pleased on behalf of the British Government to be here today. COVAX has been a huge international effort and the UK is proud to have been one of the first countries to back COVAX and is one of its biggest donors. The recognition of equitable distribution of the vaccine around the world, including here in St. Lucia, is the driving principle to the UK's approach. To date, the UK has contributed 548 million pounds or just over two billion Eastern Caribbean dollars to COVAX. Equally as important has been the UK's global influence implemented through our policy and persistence in encouraging other donors to support the mechanism. And of course, UK science has played an integral role in development of the vaccines. Along with COVAX, the total UK aid commitment to firing the pandemic globally is now 1.3 billion pounds. The UK Government understands the global pandemic requires a global solution and that until we all defeat the virus, no one will. Working alongside international and regional partners like PAHU, this UK aid support means that this year over 1 billion doses of the vaccine will be secured for some of the world's most vulnerable people. The UK recognises the deep impact of the pandemic in the world, in the Caribbean, and of course here in St. Lucia. I want to congratulate the Prime Minister, the Health Minister, the Chief Medical Officer, Ms. Joan Baptiste and her team for the success of St. Lucia's vaccination programme so far. It really is a very commendable achievement and I'm pleased that the Rural Eye has been going so well here in St. Lucia. It's because of all this, I'm especially pleased to be present here today to represent the UK contribution as these COVAX vaccines arrive in St. Lucia. Knowing that this will help contribute to this island's recovery and its growth in the future and a bright future for St. Lucia, as I know will happen over time. Thank you very much everyone. Thank you very much Mr. Steve McCready and also the UK Government for the support. We've heard that of course the vaccine is important and that it can reduce the transmission of the COVID-19 virus and also save lives. And we at the Ministry of Health felt it was important and necessary to speak on the importance of the vaccine but also to get a few testimonies from a few persons to speak on the impact of the vaccine. First we have a front liner which is a nurse to speak on the impact of the vaccine. I now call on Natalie John. Good morning everyone. My name is Natalie John and I am a registered nurse which is attached to primary health care. Why was it important for me to take the vaccine? Well vaccines are safe and has proven to be an effective way of activating your immune system to develop antibodies. We often develop immunity when we have had a disease. Yes but however some diseases may be more serious and even to death. Coronavirus indeed has globally set a president and has been affecting everyone. I chose to receive the vaccine due to the fact that I am a frontline worker and has constantly been in contact with individuals at the respiratory clinic and all the facilities. Having a first hand look on how COVID-19 symptoms presents itself, I made a conscious decision to take the vaccine to reduce my risk of contracting severe COVID. The vaccine is to reduce the risk to my family, my co-workers and my community because life does not entail me but consists of those I interact with on a daily basis. I would honestly encourage those who have not taken the vaccine to please do so. Let us do our part to protect each other and those we love. Thank you very much. Thank you very much nurse John. Of course in St. Lucia we note that we have over 4,000 persons who were diagnosed with the COVID-19 virus. So today we have with us someone who was recently diagnosed with COVID-19 who will speak on her experience and the reason why she felt it is necessary to get the vaccine. I now call on Ms. Delta Benjamin. Honourable Prime Minister Alan Shastney, Minister of Health Senator Maria Isaac, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sharon Belma-George, Cowork Country Program Specialist Mr. Reina Uit, which is High Commissioner, Mr. Steve McCready, team from the Ministry of Health, other dignitaries, good morning. It's a privilege to be here today at this prestigious award. As a proud citizen of St. Lucia and having been tested positive for the novel virus on Friday, 15th January, I stand here to share my experience. When I received this call I did willingly, without a doubt, because I knew that I was exposed in an environment where the virus was spreading like wildfire. While awaiting my results I ensured to be quarantined because of course this was the right thing to do. Three days after I got this defa-stating call stated, my results came back. My spirit got dampened and I felt like a failure knowing that I took all precautionary measures like I know how to. Acceptance was very difficult. I went into the shutdown zone and a spell of depression. Once it sunk in the following day I was back to my normal self, staying positive, continued exercising at home and of course preparing my special meals. The outpouring of love and support from my family and loved ones was out of this world. I wish that I had the virus every day of my life. This made the process a lot a lot easier. Truth be told there were no symptoms giving me the cue that I was infected. I just had to take the results for what it was. I was totally a systematic. Making a full recovery was my priority, which I did after 10 days I got. I said I was told that you're officially out of prison. I mean it didn't matter because I mean I feel home anyway so it really wasn't a big deal for me. It didn't affect me in that way at all. Passed out to the vaccine two months after. Yeah I'm legal to get this vaccine. After educating myself I said nothing is stopping me. I will go ahead with this. I took the first dose but guess what? It wasn't this friendly to me. I got every side effect in the books. But needless to say guess what? I'm excited about those two. And whatever it brings to the table I will take it because I did this and I'm doing this for me. My loved ones and for my simply beautiful St. Lucia. Ladies and gentlemen I thank you. Thank you very much Ms. Benjamin for sharing your experience. We've heard from some of the key persons in the arrival of the vaccine but I think it's important before we move to the second segment that we have a musical performance by Naomi Grandeson. I think I'll leave you there. Good morning to all. Thank you so much for having me. A daughter of Lucia. A beautiful plant that sprung from a dark rich soil. I emerged from a plant. Come back again. We'll then come back again. I am a daughter of Lucia. A beautiful plant that sprung from a dark rich soil. I emerged from a land that nourishes and grooves in curves and dips along the contours. She burst out cool waterfalls and hot springs releasing minerals that cleanse. She relaxes. Come from a mother that's anchored in water. She gives me mango, sour soup and popper. A mother with ground provisions and greens. On twin peaks she elevates our vision and dreams. A mother who has birthed a bouillon of cultures. African, Indian, European, Amerindian cultures that bound in a lucian identity of fun, fervor, prayer and charity. Even if everything is not strong, we are able to do it. We are able to eat and drink. We are able to speak in a different way. We are able to eat and drink. She has asked me to speak to her children. Remind them of their beauty. Inspire health and safety. But if we want to get over the threat of corona, we must not wait. We should all vaccinate. Remember to wear your mask, stand at a distance, sanitize and wash your hands. For if we all take a stand, we can protect our motherland. How many of you agree? I come from Lucia. I come from Lucia. I come from Lucia. Three times. I come from Lucia. One more time. I come from a mother like you too. I come from a mother. I come from Lucia. Someone who is a key leader at the Ministry of Health and Wellness and of course a very important part in the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of our response is the Minister for Health. I now call on Senator the Honorable Mary Isaac to bring us with some remarks. Yes, good morning everyone and thanks for being here. Protocol already established. I still wish to recognize our Honorable Prime Minister, Alan Michael Shashney, our British High Commissioner, Steve Mulgrady and of course Pa Ho representative Dr Hewitt who always think that he is part of the Ministry of Health. So as a result when Pa Ho recalls him we are going to refuse to allow him to go. Thank you very much everyone for being here. Again we are seeing the unfolding of additional vaccines that we have received this morning. I believe that much has been said. We have gotten all the information that I believe we need and I'm sure that our Honorable Prime Minister is going to continue to do the honors. So what I want to do this morning is to say that there is a saying that when a manager is not present, a good manager is one whose absence is not felt when he or she is not present and this is a lot of consolation to me heading the Ministry of Health that I have such a competent group of workers, team of workers in that ministry. When I look again this morning at how this is unfolding I can sit back and even if I was not here my presence would still have been felt. I know that the workers would still have ensured that my presence is felt and my Prime Minister as well and they never cease to amaze me in terms of the level of professionalism that they exercise at each and every turn before and during this pandemic and I feel so grateful I feel so honored to head this extremely important institution at this time in our lives. I have to say that time and time again I just feel so elated to be part of this whole process and to be part of the team at the Ministry of Health. I believe that there is no amount of money that can compensate our frontline workers' team health for what it is that they do every day and they do it so well so willingly so effortlessly and sometimes it often goes on notice the type of pressure that the workers in this ministry and of course our frontline workers have come under during this period during this time of COVID-19 so when I had the critics out there bringing in all the negativity sometimes I wonder what impact it is having on my staff but then again when they are asked to perform I see that yes we have broad backs in that ministry the workers of course are in that field I believe that training makes them tough and that training helps them to understand why some people can be so uncaring why some people can say and do such evil things to take all this effort that they are putting into the work that they do and reduce it sometimes almost to nothing and I lament the fact that it is our own people who are doing this to us because I know that out there nationally I know that regionally and internationally St Lucia is regarded our healthcare workers the ministry of health is held in very high regard our prime minister and all of my cabinet ministers and the work that they do throughout the past few years that we have been in office we are being held in very high regard in the regional and international arena and I am here this morning to encourage you to encourage you not to lose faith when these things happen to encourage you to continue the fight to continue to save the lives of our people in St Lucia because when this pandemic started and we were hearing people in leadership positions taking the stand that there is no covid I was afraid that some healthcare workers may start to buy into that but thankfully and we have to thank God that they did not I can see from the results of what is unfolding here I can see that our workers were not perturbed and that all of these negative you know negative impacts did not really prevent them from doing the work that they had to do I have to commend our CMO for standing strong for taking the battery of negative critics that she had to withstand Dr. Joseph every I don't really like to start calling names but there are some people that really stand out and I know these people went without sleep for days our deputy PS is seldom seen heard or mentioned but this is another person in the Ministry of Health that I can call on at any time of night I can WhatsApp anything any time and she's always going to come back to me with a response Jenny Daniel we don't often hear that name and there are people who are here with us and those who are of course watching us and those who support us in the ministry all the time whom I may not necessarily mention their names at any particular time but they know who they are and I appreciate the fact that they play a pivotal role in sustaining the Ministry of Health and the work of the Ministry of Health and I hope and want them to understand that although I may not mention the name all the time that I really appreciate the work they do that our Cabinet of Ministers and the Prime Minister know of them and the work that they do and they are appreciated by all the good people of our country I have always maintained that we must not politicize healthcare we at the Ministry of Health when we have to assist people we do not look at the political affiliation or the color we help we assist because that is where our heart is and I want to say to all our St. Lucian people who are watching us here today and those who will hear about this this this event that they ought to dispel the negativity about vaccination I took my first dose of the vaccine I was one of the very first people and of course everybody don't react to it the same way I was informed that I have to take the second dose six weeks later but now this has shifted the science has said to us now that we ought to wait eight to ten weeks to take the second dose and this is what I am doing right now and oftentimes we hear the talk about the science the science almost to say that the people at the Ministry of Health never went to school and they do not know anything about science so sometimes I wonder who is it that knows the science better than the staff the workers and the people who are involved in healthcare because you must have science to be in healthcare from the very beginning you need to have science that is one of the areas that require that you have the science and we do nothing at the Ministry of Health without depending on the science and this is why to this day we are not able to say to people who have received the two doses of their vaccines who want to come into our country we cannot say to them as yet that it is safe to do so because we are depending on the science to give us that information and then we will be able to say so so I am getting a lot of requests from travelers who want to come in who have their two doses and they want to know whether they still have to do the 14 days quarantine and my response is yes for now this is our requirement it's one of our protocols and people who are coming in with their two doses must still undergo the 14 days quarantine until the science at the Ministry of Health inform us that that is not the case and I'm hoping that that will be very soon as we see our vaccines are on rolling and we are getting the supplies that we need for us to continue to vaccinate our people I want to thank all of those solutions who have come forward to take the vaccine and I want to encourage everyone to continue to take their vaccines so that eventually we will be protecting not just ourselves but we will be protecting our loved ones family and friends we will be protecting our economy so that we can reopen our economy to enable those persons out there who are unemployed to get back into the workforce and sustain themselves and their families so today is a very momentous day this occasion is a very momentous occasion and today is a very special day that we are seeing that the covax mechanism the vaccines through that mechanism is unfolding this is the first part of the vaccines we supposed to be receiving 75,000 I believe so I am sending out the message that we need to continue to vaccinate as you can see the staff of the Ministry of Health they have produced all these beautiful placards they have their t-shirts so their heart and soul is into it and they are the ones who know about the science so let us follow in those footsteps and ensure that we get all ourselves vaccinated so that we can get our country back on track so I thank you very much with these few words have a blessed day take care everybody and get vaccinated thank you very much senator the Honourable Mary Isaac of course I'm sure today that the Prime Minister of St. Lucia is very happy and of course proud that we receive the COVID-19 vaccine for the covax facility I now call on the Prime Minister of St. Lucia the Honourable Alan Shastnet to provide us with some brief remarks thank you very much first of all if I can recognize the Lord pastor thank you very much for your kind words today inspirational words and a reminder as to who really is in charge I can also acknowledge my Minister of Health Ms. Mary Azac Senator Isaac the CMO and her team Dr. Hewitt and also my very good friend Mr. Steve McCrady representing the British today is a very important day but it is one step in a very long journey a journey that back in March or February of last year nobody knew where this journey was going to take us so in fact many of us were waking up each day knowing that we had a crisis on our hands but absolutely no idea as to what the impact was going to be we heard some testimonials honest testimonials some things that we ourselves take very much for granted the fear and how people deal with uncertainty so you can imagine on an individual basis how it is and I keep reminding everyone that a prime minister and cabinet members and the lead government officials we're all human being we're all prone to the same exact emotions as everyone else and yet we have to muster up that courage every day understanding that we are in front of everyone else and what is expected of us is to be calm cool collected decisive and strong because that's what people expect us to do and certainly even if we may be panicking inside and having the grip of fear in us because of the level of uncertainty we have to find a way to overcome that so today is an important step in helping to quell that fear that we had 25 or 24,000 vaccines that we were able to receive from a multiple of sources so Prime Minister Modi provided us with some and we were very grateful to our neighbors in Dominica who provided 5,000 our neighbor in Saint Vincent Negrinities who provided us with 5,000 and our neighbor in Barbados who provided us with 1,000 doses and those were very important contributions at a very difficult time because we know what we went through in January and in February so receiving those vaccines at that point was a breath of fresh air an inspiration array of hope for many of us and certainly those frontliners particularly the nurses and the doctors and the emergency service workers who had to meet the elderly had to meet persons with underlying conditions and we understood the extent of vulnerability that they had being able to vaccinate them even if it was for the first dose was a huge reprieve in terms of protecting our citizens it should not be misunderstood in any way the contribution that the United States of America the UK Canada Japan and Europe and Norway have made in fact the significant part of COVAX has been through them and you heard Mr. McCready talk about almost 2.2 billion EC dollars of a contribution that they have made and COVAX came out of humanitarian understanding that when we have these kinds of crises where there is going to be global demand on a very small number of products that sadly human nature takes over and persons are intent on putting their each of their countries first and COVAX understands that we all live in a in a village you can protect yourself but if you do not take care of your neighbors ultimately it's going to come back and haunt you I think many of the developed countries the G7 countries have now begun to understand how important the developing world was to their own economies the closure of borders and a number of persons who've lost jobs because the travel industry collapsed the amount of consumption that we collectively bring to those economies through purchasing online and buying their services and maintaining our equipment the difficulty we had even in getting technicians here to come and service those equipments it's a two-way street and so the world has passed a point where any one country has the ability of shutting its borders anymore we all need each other and so COVAX was a response to that of making sure that there was going to be an equitable distribution of the vaccine based on your population and the initial part is that we would cover at least 20 percent of 163 countries if I'm not mistaken 163 countries 20 percent of their population will be covered by COVAX that's a very noble cause and I certainly would not want the gratitude of my government and I know the people of San Lucia to those countries that their names are lost in COVAX because some persons who say oh some of our stronger allied countries are not helping us that's not true they have been helping us and today is actually a demonstration of the beginning of that so today we receive 24,000 doses we are on stream to receive 77,000 and we're hoping that before the end of the month but that's always subject to change before the end of the month that we'll receive at least another third of our dosage and I would imagine that that would be what would be in line I want to thank the the CMO and her team who made a very quick decision once we knew that we were going to get COVAX to proceed to use all of the doses that we had the 24,000 for our first round and so therefore the doses that we've received today will be used for those persons who have already received their first dose but I know that the CMO has kept a couple of thousands stocked away for emergency use one of those uses might be that I'm actually supposed to be on a conference call now with the cruise industry of restarting that business and that the 1,100 solutions who worked in that industry that we've given an undertaking that we would make sure that they would be vaccinated before they went back onto the ship so that would be an example of an emergency that we would deal with if in fact we have football teams we just had one that's going off to Curacao and we assisted them by helping them become vaccinated we have the Olympics coming up and we do have solutions and also their coaches are going to be participating we want to make sure that they're also vaccinated before they went if somebody's going to go for medical treatment abroad and requires to be vaccinated before they go that we would be able to do that so we will have some supplies available for those kinds of emergencies but we're certainly hoping that before October that we would have received at least 50 percent of the required amount to well to pop to vaccinate 50 percent of our population I have to also say that I'm encouraged by the success in the UK which have been leading the world in rolling out vaccines and father forgive me in saying this they've even converted churches as places for persons to come to become vaccinated so they've taken it very seriously I see the United States now is now introducing vaccinations for persons under the age of 18 so we're seeing global success taking place and I think that the Mary Isaac pointed out and also Steve also pointed out that the ultimate goal is to get back to some level of normalcy too many people have had to make a significant sacrifice during this crisis and again I don't want to ever take it for granted what they've gone through very difficult time and certainly being able to get income back into households where persons right now I think are in survival mode I don't think anybody's talking about using these monies to to buy a home or to move on but we're all just bracing ourselves and surviving it but I'm really hoping that within the next couple of months that solutions will be encouraged by a lot of the work that was been taking place behind the scenes the Ministry of Tourism along with the Ministry of Infrastructure have worked very hard to get airlines to fly back to San Lucia so one of the benefits of never closing our borders has been the confidence that we have developed with those airlines so we actually have more airlift coming into San Lucia between July of this year until December then we had in July of December of 2019 and one of those new introductions I was sharing with Steve is that British Airways who is going to come back with six flights a week dedicated to San Lucia two of those flights are going to be into Heathrow I can say to you that from the time I was Minister of Tourism in 2006 we've been negotiating and trying to get American Airlines to start a service out of Dallas Texas so that flight has now started JetBlue is now coming out of Newark which is a new flight for them and I say that because these are rays of hope these are stepping stones towards getting back together and so I cannot even begin to thank Paho, WHO and the team at COVAX for what they have done and I can say to you all of us in procurement as well as in the Ministry of Finance simply getting PPEs in March ventilators was difficult and when I heard Governor Cuomo literally saying that the state of New York was being outbidded on PPEs and on ventilators I remember remarking to myself boy we are in for a rough ride so COVAX could not happen at a better time at times like this it's very important for us to recognize the persons and institutions that have helped us so first of all I really want to thank my Minister of Health Mary Isaac what I made the decision to appoint her as the minister is for all the qualities that she's displayed these qualities that I knew of the leadership her strength and her humility and I want to thank you minister for helping us through this very very difficult period the permanent secretary Mr. Benson Emil again a gentleman who was thrown into the deep end very recently having to take over a ministry that was really running at high gear running the Victoria Hospital opening up of OKEU the expansion of the health care centers the working on the health care insurance program and more importantly managing staff that were overworked underpaid and keeping them highly motivated and many many at times I know that the relationship thank god he came from the accountant general's office so you understood how that process worked but many a time trying to get reagent trying to get materials here and not having it in the budget and somehow trying to convince everybody that this was the right thing to do so I can't thank him enough the Deputy Permanent Secretary Mrs. Jenny Daniel again I think the minister made the point quietly in the back not a face or a name that you often hear but being the backbone to the ministry the chief medical officer which we all know Dr. Sharon Belmar George who has become my wife would say my first wife a person who I almost talked to every single day whose guidance I've come to treasure there is never a time that I have called Dr. Belmar that she's been panicked in fact maybe I'm more panicked at times than she is and she has to calm me down so I want to thank her for her strength in the Paho country program specialist Dr. Hewitt again I think the minister acknowledged that he is not seen himself as part of Paho but seen himself as part of the ministry of health our immunization manager nurse tells us about these two we got to hear speak today I'm very powerful woman and I want to thank you for your strength the national vaccine technical committee the procurement team and primary care team particularly the nurses can't thank enough of them for the work that they have continuously done I've had the opportunity to go to many of the respiratory centers to see people working through their lunch hours giving up dinners giving up special occasions with their family members simply to make sure that they were there to calm the country because when you go into those respiratory centers and you see long lines and you see that the nurses and the doctors are working through the time at making every effort to attend to your need and comfort you these are some of the unherald benefits that solutions have the other stakeholders been the rural solution police force in the cadets providing security in order for the vaccination sites made them volunteering their time I had to get an opportunity when I went through the vaccination rollout to meet many of them who had volunteered their time and I want to thank them very much the events in lucha and I was just saying today how proud I am about events in lucha when we had designed events in lucha it was not just about musical events but it was having an entity that anytime that we were doing mass public events whether ahead of state was coming here whether it was a special celebratory moment and certainly I can say to you never envisaged them being as involved as they've been in the logistics of rolling out the vaccines getting the healthcare centers to work I want to say to all of them thank you so so very much and for those persons who felt that events should have been shut down because we didn't have any events truly didn't understand and appreciate the talent that we have here in lucha of logistics and again I want to say thank you to all of you for the extra effort that you all put in to making this happen and lastly but not least I want to thank slaspen the ports police and all those people who have been instrumental at our airports and seaports you know again we take these things for granted there are other countries in the region who attempted to reopen late this or late last year and almost immediately had to be shut back down again because they could not enforce the protocols our team at the airport have been working seriously learning since may and have done the most amazing job of processing sometimes small numbers of people and sometimes as many as 11 or 1200 people in one day and not backing backing down and doing it as diligently as they do and I would say to you 99.9 percent of both solutions as well as the tours to go through that process leave just going wow these people know what they're doing and I say this because again we think it's easy they just made it look easy and their diligence in doing their work contributed significantly in making sure that opening up our borders was safe to everyone and I think up to last week I don't know of one person who contracted COVID who's worked on that team the taxi drivers all of the security personnel that have made this thing work I can't thank you enough and certainly the confidence that you've instilled in the airlines and also the two operators were selling solution but more importantly on behalf of the thousands of solutions who were able to get back to work safely a lot of this had to do with you and so again I want to thank you all for today and again say that this is one more step in a very long journey and while we may have a better idea where this journey is going none of us can see the end of it as yet and sometimes you think you're looking in horizon and you're looking from peak to peak but you don't understand the turns and twists that you have to take when you go down into the valley so again let's hope that we have less valleys and many more peaks I appreciate it thank you thank you Prime Minister the Honourable Adam Chastney we're coming very close to the end of the program we will now have the closing remarks from the to Glensford Joseph who's the medical officer of health good day team and I said again good day team we are a team missus of ceremony allow me to adopt the protocols so established in the latter part of 2019 we were all preparing with many plans for an exciting 2020 and beyond not realizing what 2020 will be to our lives globally regionally sub regionally nationally we have seen how the then called novel coronavirus showed the integration of this world as a single global village when we talk about a village we tend to have the concept of a very small unique place but coronavirus has brought us to that point where the safety of one in a in their home in a community really means the safety of the world and as such we have seen over the year plus the health impact of COVID-19 the economic impact and the social impact of COVID-19 many of us at this point never thought we would have been wearing the mask in the general public out of the health institution where you use it for that protective purpose but here we are thanks to COVID-19 in St. Lucia we have seen at all levels it's starting nationally we have seen the impact on each and every sector this is not a ministry of health business the response to COVID-19 demonstrated that each sector do contribute to the health of this nation and we have seen it here yes your health workers we take care of your illness we try to ensure that you maintain your health but at the same time in all that we do we do rely on the taxi drivers the farmers here we are at Slaspers and I can go on and on the interventions before really demonstrated how COVID impacted St. Lucia and as the honorable prime minister Mr. Allen Chastney pointed out it is a collective effort to win this battle we are going to continue and success we will but this being said I must take the opportunity on behalf of the Department of Health and Wellness I will join with the Department of External Affairs because you know in reaching out to the many countries territories they play an integral role in us accessing many of the key ingredients the medical and pharmaceutical that we need to ensure that we function they play a significant role and by extension the government and people of St. Lucia here we are presenting our heart health funds to the Pan American Health Organization represented by as we call him a member or a staff of the Department of Health and Wellness Mr. Yurt thank you for being on us really to make things happen you know we do our work and he's part of us the World Health Organization that has been instrumental in the whole COVAX facility and to ensure that St. Lucia has equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines you will understand that with what is going on today the developed countries with lots of resources will easily out do us in accessing vaccines but thanks to this COVAX facility we're able to have our first trench of vaccines through this equitable distribution mechanism so established St. Lucia will also take the time out to acknowledge the meaningful contributions of key agencies such as the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization often called GAVI so United Nation Children's Fund some of us understand the UNICEF and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations in ensuring the availability of COVID-19 vaccine globally as pointed out we can only be safe when each one is safe this lot of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine will be used to accelerate our return to some level of social and economic normalcy as we strive to achieve over 70 percent population immunity through immunization and this is very important the Department of Health and Wellness looks forward to the sustained collaboration with the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization as we continue to implement public health measures including immunization the control and prevent the spread of COVID-19 and to save lives and livelihood we've learned of the limited doses of COVID-19 and as such we are getting our 20% in batches but while vaccination is another tool for us getting to some level of normalcy we must and we will continue our public health measures of wearing a mask physical distancing frequent hand washing as we implement other measures like the curfew that really is aimed at reducing the spread of COVID-19 so we can get back to that level of normalcy quicker than that protracted time if we continue not to practice these measures so once again thanks to the Pan American Health Organization the World Health Organization and the Covax facility for this lot of COVID-19 vaccine are located to St. Lucia thanks again on behalf of the country thank you very much Dr. Joseph well we have come to the end of the official ceremony of the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccines through the Covax facility and of course on behalf of the Ministry of Health and Wellness we would like to thank all the organizations and agencies which provided much needed support to ensure that this event was a success thank you very much we ask that persons join us in the back for light refreshments thank you the first Covax on Ireland 24,000 doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine have just arrived we're coming to you live from the urinary international airport where the prime minister other government officials and other dignitaries as well we're able to head on over to the tar mark and we'll start with this morning's proceedings to formally receive this batch of vaccines don't let you know that this is a part of the vaccines that we are to expect through the Covax facility for St. Lucia 24,000 doses received today in total we should expect 74,400 doses through the Covax facility just to go back into this morning's ceremony we had the prime minister speaking about what the Covax facility really meant and its benefit for countries like St Lucia he indicated that the spirit of the Covax facility understands that the world is a village and the welfare of one country impacts on others he indicated that we are past the point of countries operating in isolation and that the nature of the world just simply does not permit this world trade world economics and much to St Lucia and other vulnerable nations benefit this facility has allowed for the equitable distribution of vaccines being based on population and through the Covax facility we have received a guarantee of vaccinations for 20 percent of our population that is 74,400 doses the ministry of health has indicated that the 24,000 doses that have been received today will go towards inoculating individuals who received their first dose and we understand that almost 23,000 individuals have so far received their vaccination since the start of the since the start of the national Covax 19 vaccination campaign the prime minister has indicated that the goal is to inoculate 50 percent of the population by October and we will be keeping you updated as to the work of the ministry of health and wellness in that regard we'd like to thank you so much for tuning in do stay tuned to NTN as we cover more leading developments from the government of St Lucia this has been a ceremony to receive the Covax vaccine and the first batch has arrived today Wednesday the 7th of April 2021 rest assured that after today's 24,000 doses arriving 74,400 will in total come so the rest rest assured is on its way of course St Lucia's national Covax 19 vaccination campaign began back on the 17th of February 2021 with phase one a healthcare workers in clinical settings first responders security service personnel and other frontline workers were prioritized in a phase one a of the campaign and phase one b a 65 years plus including residents of elderly homes and people living with chronic health conditions were also prioritized we so far seen targets at the tourism sector and now the education sector individuals who are not able to move about to reduce mobility being prioritized for the campaign right now and this prior to this today's arrival of the Covax vaccines was made possible after we received some donations from the government of India in the sum of some 25,000 doses we also received from friendly island neighbors Barbados Dominica St Vincent a couple thousand doses of vaccines as well to help jumpstart our campaign so overall things have been going well and if I can go back to the delivery of the estimates of expenditure for this fiscal year the Prime Minister Hon. Alan Chastney did indicate that the projections for slow and steady recovery of our economy is contingent in part on the vaccination campaign so the hope is that there is continued stride made with respect to the inoculation of the population and as he indicated the hope being 50 percent of the population having immunity by October of this year my name is Jesse Leans on behalf of the NTN we'd like to thank you so much for watching do enjoy the rest of your day and stay tuned to NTN Cheers