KINGSTOWN, St Vincent – Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves will soon receive his fifth COVID-19 vaccine. It is encouraging Vincentians who have not yet taken the jab to do so, even as the number of active cases in the country has fallen to just two.
The 75-year-old leader said he was looking forward to getting his fifth shot on March 18, just over a year after receiving his first jab. He received two doses of Russia’s Sputnik vaccine, followed by two Pfizer jabs.
“October 19 is the last date on which I had my second Pfizer…. So March 18 will be the five months after my last dose of Pfizer, and I’m taking a booster. Just like if you have to take boosters for other things, or … like in Britain, where you get a lot of cold or in America people take flu shots, it may have to be like that, I don’t know,” he said while on local radio on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Gonsalves acknowledged the low number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and the fact that no one is currently hospitalized as a result of the virus, but insisted, “We mustn’t take any chances, and we must still take the vaccine, and we must still wear masks.”
“I believe that the push that we had with including the requirement for the frontline workers and strategic workers, that that has helped,” he said, referring to the vaccine mandate under which a large section of government workers had to take a jab or lose their jobs.
“Plus, of course, there is a view that the Omicron has helped in the sense that the Omicron was easy to spread but wasn’t as dangerous, so it helped to knock out the other variants – the Delta, for instance.
“But we have to be very careful because there are more of these viruses around the corner for all kinds of reasons. And we have to be vigilant, and I’m still telling the people who are having social events, social gatherings, and funerals still, you have to be very careful,” Gonsalves added.
A total of 68,864 vaccines had been administered here up to Wednesday, consisting of 35,725 first doses, 29,801-second doses, and 3,338 boosters.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines have seen a consistent drop in the number of new and active COVID-19 cases, suggesting that the latest wave has ended.
As of Wednesday, it had recorded a total number of 8,323 cases since March 2020, 106 of which resulted in death.
Calling for the nation’s spirit, Prime Minister Gonsalves said: “We have to come out of this siege mentality of old. We have to protect ourselves during COVID. It is still accurate and alive, but we need to embrace fresh hope.
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