PAHO LAUDS PM HARRIS’ OUTSTANDING LEADERSHIP IN ST. KITTS AND NEVIS’ SUCCESSFUL VACCINATION PROGRAMME

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, November 03, 2021 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – In an article posted on its website ‘paho.org’, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) lauded the outstanding and strong leadership of Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris to the overall success of St. Kitts and Nevis’ COVID-19 vaccination programme.
 
The article, headlined “St. Kitts and Nevis Covid-19 vaccine rollout success”, takes an in-depth look at the Federation’s vaccination rate up to October 25, 2021. By that date, a total of 50,045 doses of vaccines were administered, with 76.6 percent of the country’s target population having received one dose and 24,197 or 72.1 percent being fully vaccinated.
 
“The Covid-19 vaccination coverage rate in St. Kitts and Nevis is high. This has been credited to very robust implementation strategies, including the fact that the Covid-19 vaccination strategies were built upon a very solid general vaccination program in the country. Historically, St. Kitts and Nevis has a successful record of having a high vaccination rate. In terms of childhood vaccination, the overall rate is between 96-97%, so they would have built upon that platform when rolling out the Covid-19 vaccines,” PAHO said in the article.
 
The organization highlighted three contributing factors to the country’s successful COVID-19 vaccination rollout, one being the direct involvement and advocacy of Prime Minister Harris.
 
It said, “This was a key strategy in terms of people seeing the leader of the Federation coming on board.”
 
The other two factors identified by PAHO are the strong health system with an all-hands-on deck approach to the management of the pandemic, and support from partners such as the Pan American Health Organization, Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the European Union, and countries like the United States of America, Taiwan and India.
 
St. Kitts and Nevis was also among the countries to benefit from a number of training sessions and technical support for the receipt, deployment and administration of vaccines organized and facilitated by experts from PAHO.
 
PAHO/WHO Advisor for Family and Community Health, Dr. Darlene Omeir applauded St. Kitts and Nevis’ vaccination coverage. She was quoted as saying that, “The Federation has already surpassed the PAHO/WHO global vaccination requirement.”
 
Prime Minister Harris has long maintained that the most important tool in the fight against COVID-19 is vaccines, and as such has been encouraging all eligible citizens and residents in St. Kitts and Nevis to get vaccinated against the deadly disease as soon as possible.