Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 22, 2021 (SKNIS): Over one-third of the target population in St. Kitts and Nevis has received the first jab of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine as the Roll Up 2 Roll Out COVID-19 vaccination programme continues.
Figures presented by the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Hazel Laws, indicated that 11,848 doses have been administered to date as of April 21, 2021. A further breakdown shows that 8,935 doses have been administered in St. Kitts, while 2,913 doses have been administered in Nevis. The combined number represents 35.86 percent of the target goal. To achieve herd immunity, health authorities in the Federation expressed that 33,037 persons or 70 percent of the population must be fully vaccinated.
“Once you are fully vaccinated, you would have an 83 percent risk reduction in picking up the (COVID-19) virus,” said Dr. Laws at the National COVID-19 Briefing on April 21, 2021.
The Chief Medical Officer shared how useful the vaccine can be in the case of an outbreak.
“If perchance we have clusters of cases of COVID-19, if we go into community transmission and the virus is spreading, once you are fully vaccinated the risk of your contracting the disease is very slim and if perchance you do, it prevents you from becoming very ill,” it prevents death,” Dr. Laws expressed.
As of April 22, 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that globally there are 143, 445, 675 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 3, 051, 736 deaths. 889, 990,259 vaccine doses have been administered worldwide.