 on a threshold of change. Of ushered in a new government, the challenges of this global pandemic remain the same. The policy of this new government is to bring about change through verifiable facts. The generous gift of the Pfizer vaccines provided today is yet another tool in our fight against this dreaded and dreadful disease. This vaccine is much about science. However, our greatest challenge lies in behavior modification. The provision of these vaccines, Ambassador, afford the citizenry greater options in the fight against this pandemic. We are indeed very grateful for their provision and the generosity of their giving. But above all, the United States of America's kind humanitarian gesture. We continue to respect and uphold the human rights and dignity of the human person afforded under both our constitutions. All ideas in dealing with this pandemic must contend from every strata of the society. I now call on Miss Tecla Jabatist, who is the Immunization Manager and who daily through the Ministry of Health our population gets to know what is our position, where are we, what is our government doing and how well are we combating this pandemic. It is indeed an honor to welcome you at this symbolic ceremony to witness the handover of the first stretch of COVID-19. Pfizer vaccines are located to St. Lucia by the United States government. A truly historic moment. Like the rest of the world, COVID-19 has affected St. Lucia tremendously from the individual level to communities to our national economy. Since our first case of COVID-19 on the 13th of March 2020, St. Lucia has reported 6,475 cases and 95 lives being lost due to COVID-19 to date. St. Lucia, like other Caribbean countries, has been struggling to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The development and approval of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines has indeed brought us all hope in the battle against this pandemic. In St. Lucia and globally, vaccines are proven to be one of the most effective public health strategies. Vaccines have been known to save lives and improve the quality of life. The national COVID-19 vaccine campaign was launched on the 17th of February 2021. Exactly six months. To date, 33,877 first doses and 26,551 second doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine has been administered. Representing 18.7% of the population being partially vaccinated and 14.7% being fully vaccinated. This leaves a significant number of the population unvaccinated against COVID-19. Today, we are here to accept this generous donation of vaccines. This is not only the gift of a pharmaceutical, but the gift of a healthy life to our citizens. These vaccines provide life-saving benefits to the people of St. Lucia and help in bringing an end to the pandemic. This donation from the United States government will now make available mRNA vaccines to our people. mRNA vaccines have proven to be highly effective against COVID-19, including against the variants of concern confirmed in country. No single country can address the challenges of this pandemic on its own. We are all in this together. It is a global fight, a fight that will be won through solidarity and through cooperation. Vaccinate for you, for yours, and for us. Once again, I welcome you to this historic ceremony. Thank you. The United States is proud to donate more than 52,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses free of charge to the people of St. Lucia. This is the first tranche of the 169 COVID-19 vaccine doses committed to St. Lucia. We thank the manufacturer of these vaccines, Pfizer, for their research and the work in making this donation possible. I also want to thank the many people of the United States, from the White House to the CDC to my own embassy, who have spent countless hours organizing a whole-of-government global health campaign to defeat the virus. I want to thank the Prime Minister, the Minister of Health, and everyone on your team for working with the United States and the international community for taking these steps that will restore health and prosperity to the region. In order to stop COVID-19, we know we must work together. It is fitting that my first in-person meetings with the new government begin here as a concrete demonstration of the partnership between the United States and St. Lucia. President Biden has committed America to providing vaccines around the world. He understands, and I understand, that no one is safe until everyone is safe. And let me say that again. No one is safe until everyone is safe. Pandemics know no borders. That is why I'm proud that this vaccine donation supplements the vaccines the United States has already made available to St. Lucia through the COVAX facility. Through COVAX and the $4 billion the United States committed to the global vaccination effort, we helped deliver more than 50,000 AstraZeneca vaccines to St. Lucia in May and April. Now in August, we are donating 52,000 more doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Why? Because no one is safe until everyone is safe. The Pfizer vaccine is the only vaccine approved for use in children as young as 12 years old. All the vaccines that the United States donates are approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization. These are the same vaccines that are available to all Americans and are the same doses the United States is sharing globally. We know that St. Lucia takes this pandemic seriously and we know that the vaccines are the fastest way to end it. Yes, I live in the real world and I know that there will be some who will seek to discredit and confuse. Faceless online accounts will spread myths and disinformation. But the fact is too many St. Lucia's on the island and in the United States have died from COVID-19. Our cooperation today says that we choose science, facts, transparency and saving lives. Since the beginning of the pandemic the United States has provided more than $4 million in COVID-19 response to the Eastern Caribbean. We have spent thousands of dollars right here in St. Lucia providing PPEs, hygiene supplies and contact tracing and equipment. The United States and St. Lucia are partners and neighbors and we remain close friends. This is our shared neighborhood and we will work together to and through the time when we're able to greet each other with the hugs again. Enjoy a line in close company and know that our families are safe and healthy. Thank you. We have received a lot of vaccines donated by the U.S. government. Mark's another important milestone for St. Lucia's efforts against overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic. Since March 2020 we have had the COVID virus arrive on our beautiful shores. We have since recorded over 6,000 cases and unfortunately due to the virus. I think we are all aware of the current wave which we are now facing with nearly 600 cases in the past 7 days. The strategies that have given COVID-19 prevention control have not changed. Follow the signs prevent spread keep hospitalization at a managerial level and save lives. However thousands of shutdowns of social and economic activity and travel bans have been painful and has had significant collateral effects on our societies and economies. We cannot shut down forever. Though not the only measure vaccines are currently our best defense amongst a number of other interventions which we have had to adopt personally and collectively. Few people love the idea of taking medicines. However medicines like many other technologies are indispensable part of today's world. We in the Caribbean have had a long and successful history of using vaccines to protect our people from infectious diseases. Vaccines have enabled society to manage and overcome many diseases like measles, smallpox, polio, fever among others. If anything, we had in fact began to take them for granted. However fear of the unknown has caused many to deny reality and to resist getting protected from COVID-19. Some might even say that our infectious disease may now be misinformation and fake news much of which has come from the more advanced developed countries. Somewhat ironic in fact that these vaccines have come at a slower pace than the fake news about them. Whereas the developed world has been able to achieve high levels of vaccination, we in the Caribbean have a long way to go. Less than 34,000 solutions have received the first shot and just about 14% of the total population has been vaccinated. We must not allow our fear of the past cloud our judgment of the future. My government has agreed to become more proactive in health education across all audiences and demographics. And so we will be ramping up our communication strategy against anti-vaxxers. We want people to not act out of fear or coercion, but to act out of knowledge and confidence that they are making the best choice for themselves, for their family, friends and work circles and their country. I am one of the nearly 2 billion people around the world who has already been fully vaccinated. I have taken two doses of AstraZeneca vaccine which were donated by the Republic of India. Friends of the Caribbean who came to our aid. We have also benefited from the UN COVAX platform for which St. Lucia has been allocated 74,400 AstraZeneca doses and for which we are still due to receive another batch. But today the batch of over 52,655 vaccines represent the first batch of this bilateral donation from the United States of America. It helps the St. Lucia government meet an important request being made by some in the public like choices and options. This vaccine was developed in record time thanks to years of previous research studying similar viruses. Lots of resources have been available to on the tickets development and new technological innovations. It was subject to all three clinical trial phases, with the last trial phase involving over 40,000 people and hundreds of millions of doses have been used around the world. Additionally, this vaccine is the only one thus far tested and approved for use in children between the ages of 12 and 17. All COVID-19 vaccines in use in St. Lucia have been approved by the World Health Organization and are safe and the Ministry of Health will continue to monitor all cases in the highly unlikely instance of severe adverse reactions. My fellow St. Lucia high level of vaccination in a population means low levels of people getting seriously ill from COVID. Low level of hospitalizations and fewer furals of our loved ones. To the government and people of the United States I say thank you on behalf of the government and people of St. Lucia and I would like to ask the ambassador to especially tell President of our gratefulness and our thanks for this donation. We pray that this gives signals even greater future in the health in the area of healthcare in St. Lucia. We surely need the assistance at this time as we seek to get more people skilled and trained in healthcare. As we seek more resources to upgrade our hospitals and clinics and to deliver universal healthcare to our people. I would also especially thank the people in St. Lucia who have been on the front line of the fight against COVID. The CMO the staff of the Ministry of Health the doctors and nurses and all those who have been up front. The staff of the Ministry of Health the staff of the Prime Minister's office the immigration and customs officials and all those who have been up front in the battle against COVID. I would thank you and tell you that your mission and your work is a mission of love and the people of St. Lucia who have been the particular appreciates your efforts. I thank you very much. This afternoon we are standing or sitting in the shadow of our founding father George F. L. Charles at the George F. L. Charles Airport. Comrade George F. L. Charles Sir George F. L. Charles was a champion who had he been alive today would be at the forefront of this fight and this battle to fight the COVID-19 virus in St. Lucia. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect lives and livelihoods locally, regionally and globally. St. Lucia like other Caribbean nations have been struggling to control the spread of this deadly virus. The Delta variant in St. Lucia and elsewhere in the region poses a new and dangerous threat. The science tells us and I'm also advised that vaccines play a critical role in providing that added level of protection by way of preventing deaths and hospitalization resulting from the severe form of this infectious disease. This government under the leadership of Hon. Philip J. Pierre recognizes that the journey to the end of the COVID-19 pandemic depends partly on a large optic of COVID-19 vaccines with the goal of reaching population immunity of 70% of greater. The Hon. Joe Biden administration, the current government of the United States commends shipping more than 830,000 doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine to six Caribbean nations as part of its commitment to help the fight against the global pandemic. The vaccine donations come on the heels of the U.S. Southern Command's assistance to the Caribbean as part of a COVID-19 response effort that has included desperately needed field hospitals for several Caribbean countries seeking peaks, fighting peaks in this virus, this pandemic, ventilators, personal protection equipment and oxygen generators. Donation of logistics and other equipment facilitated to CAFRA and with the kind assistance of the original security system which has aided the delivery to individual Caribbean states. We continue to say thank you to the government and people of the United States for this. In this slide, the U.S. has provided 69,650 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to the government and people of St. Lucia in order to aid in the COVID-19 war. And yes, indeed it is a war. Today we have received the first launch of 52,650 doses. These vaccines will specifically will be helpful in vaccinating our younger people who are at increased risk from the delta variant of the vaccine. This vaccination drive will also be useful in facilitating the safe reopening of our schools and continuing the education of our young people. This historic donation to the countries by the United States government will protect the health of people throughout the world who will benefit from these life-saving vaccines. Our government continues to have policies which will increase the testing throughout the population will continue to make the vaccine more accessible by opening up new sites for administering the vaccine continue with our education programs and to ensure that we use non-traditional methods to reach every part of the population. On behalf of the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Elderly Affairs which has been at the forefront of this tireless effort together with doctors, nurses and other frontline workers and on behalf of the Government of St. Lucia I wish to thank the government and people of the United States of America for this very generous and vital donation to the government and people of St. Lucia. We will do all in our efforts to ensure that the vaccines reach the people who desperately need it. And I wish to thank the staff of the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Elderly Affairs the Deputy Permanent Secretary Ms. Jenny who is here with us the Permanent Secretary who is away and all those who have been at the forefront of this fight and to tell you thank you very much from the bottom of my heart we are going to win this battle let us do it together and let us continue to put all of our energy into it. Thank you very much. This generous donation of the United States comes at an opportune moment when the country is experiencing an upsurge in COVID-19 cases. It is my expectation that the donation from the United States will complement the doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine already procured by the government thus improving people's access and choice to vaccines decreasing the infection rate and fatalities improving the health and medical capacity and bringing economic recovery and social development. These vaccines will be properly administered and allocated to ensure the utmost benefit to the people of Saint Lucia and I'm happy about the Pfizer vaccine given the fact that we have challenges reopening school because of our concern about the spread of that virus and it has disrupted in 2020 many terms of education and health always negatively on education there was a wise lady who said that the OAS many years ago that those who are not well enough to learn will not learn well enough. Just recently Prime Minister Philip Joseph Pierre made a strong commitment to the country stating that together we will fight this vicious virus without discrimination he urged the entire populace to vaccinate and take the necessary actions to protect themselves and the loved ones and I would like to take the opportunity at this juncture to encourage all Saint Lucia to vaccinate if we are to put an effective barrier against the further penetration of the COVID-19 virus. I know that there are those who hide in dark places and spread misinformation the misinformation barons of the day the poisonous of the wellsprings of public opinion shall always be there just like a kitchen knife is used both as a weapon and as a tool the internet is used to spread good information but also bad information but as responsible leaders we will continue to accentuate the need for us to be vaccinated to avoid further pressure on our healthcare system in Saint Lucia and of course as we reach out globally in that partnership as brothers and sisters united for a better tomorrow we must emerge out of this pandemic with lightning rapidity and one of the ways to set the stage is to vaccinate the pandemic in the meantime continues to spread continues to endanger the health and well-being of the people and has severely disrupted social and economic development as it continues its decimating march across many countries across the social and economic fabric irrespective of size and status has no respect for borders no class to bring the pandemic under control requires unity solidarity cooperation and joint action by the global community our priority as a government is to control and prevent the spread of the pandemic while making an out of the ordinary effort to recover the economy and safeguard the lives, livelihoods of the people in the most sustainable way the donation of these vaccines from the government of the united states confirms the power of global partnerships in ending the COVID-19 pandemic according to the World Health Organization no country is safe until every country is safe and its urgent countries to continue to share vaccines equitably in this regard we applaud the government of the united states for sharing those vaccines to help fill an urgent supply gap and enable low and lower middle-income countries like St. Lucia to have equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines I wish to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to Ambassador Tagli Alatele who has overseen the implementation of significant development projects and initiatives over the years as ambassador to St. Lucia she has worked assiduously to promote our partnership especially during the pandemic and we will always be grateful for her excellent efforts to further consolidate St. Lucia-US bilateral ties St. Lucia and the United States enjoy strong bilateral relations not even climate change or COVID-19 will change that they will only strengthen it our bilateral cooperation extends to several important areas including economic development health education and security we intend to continue in the spirit of friendship our close collaboration both bilaterally and the international sphere as we focus on common objectives of humanity and the United States and the U.S. and the U.S. and the United States before I conclude permit me once again on behalf of the government and people of St. Lucia to reiterate our deepest appreciation and gratitude to her excellency the U.S. ambassador and the government of the United States for the unwavering commitment and the United States vaccines are certainly not a inertia that will end the pandemic but an aid to complement public health hygiene we must all continue to take proven preventative measures such as washing and cleaning of hands, mass wearing and physically distancing and keep safe it is an individual responsibility which will become a collective responsibility of our countries let us not embrace our recovery in fear but let us embrace the challenge of vaccination and other things with a boldness that is required in this new dispensation so let us cooperate under our respective mandates to bring about the changes that are necessary may God continue to bless us all I thank you and we've come to the end of our simple but symbolic ceremony our deepest thanks to you ambassador to your team and to our Prime Minister who leads the charge and his ministers and to our Ministry of Health our local Ministry of Health we all see our world differently but we will get there we have the same goal to stay healthy and be well so thank you one and all and continue doing whatever you do that's positive for building this nation thank you very much