 The Ministry of Health and Wellness has received confirmation from the Pan-American Health Organization PAHO of the allocation of 74,400 doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. This will be received through the COVAX facility, which allows for the equitable distribution of the vaccine in a manner that is fair across all countries, irrespective of size or developmental status. Speaking on the national television network on Monday, Medical Officer of Health Dr. Glensford Joseph explained that St. Lucia will be undertaking the COVID-19 vaccination in a phased approach with the first phase focusing on high-risk individuals. That moderate-risk group, which we have placed into phase two, would now incorporate also health care workers, fire officers, police officers, we have customs, immigration, that are really not in the front line, and so their risk of exposure is moderate, so we bring them into phase two. But by the time we go through that phase, and we are now having vaccines in abundance more than our demand, then we moved into phase three, which now caters for all those who may not have been covered in phase one and phase two for whatever reason, and the general population. So we are looking at phase one, to be about two months, phase two, two to three months, and phase four, sorry phase three, four to six months. One of the greatest advantages of the AstraZeneca vaccine is it does not require ultra-cold storage. Rather, it can be stored within the current storage facility used for vaccine storage in the national healthcare system. In addition, the rollout of the vaccination program can be conducted in a similar manner to how vaccines are presently administered to the population. Assistant Principal Nursing Officer and Immunization Manager, Techleger Baptiste, assured that no severe adverse effects have been recorded with the vaccine. However, if recipients experience any difficulty, there is a process to address it. Before vaccination of any type, the nurse must provide information to the client about the vaccine. The nurse must tell the client what to expect after immunization and what should be done. Even at the point of vaccination, the nurse must brief the client on what type of adverse events to expect and what to do if they occur. In the adverse event occurs, it must be reported. First of all, it has to be detected and reported. Once reported, either by the client, a family member, or the nurse, once it is reported, sorry, it is investigated. And of course, after reporting an investigation and a causality assessment is done. And finally, the findings of the investigation is normally provided as feedback to all relevant persons in the program. That is, from the client to the national level. The projected timeline for receiving this batch of vaccines is the end of February or first week in March. It is estimated that this initial allocation will allow for the vaccination of 20% of the population.