Minister for Health and Social Development, Hon. Carvin Malone said hundreds of vials of COVID-19 vaccines had to be dumped after becoming expired at the end of July.
In a live broadcast on Friday, August 6, the Minister bemoaned that dumping the vaccines occurred at a time when they are in short supply.
“I want to acknowledge that we still had to discard some 685 vials of the vaccines in the Territory on account of them expiring on July 31. The 685 vials were in fact properly disposed [of],” he remarked.
He continued: “With the present situation globally with more and more waves of different variants causing countries to once again close or implement more stringent travel protocols, vaccines supplies are even shorter, and procurement is even more difficult.”
Despite this, Minister Malone said the Government of the Virgin Islands “remains steadfast and continues to do all that it can to ensure that the people of this Territory have every opportunity to get vaccinated.”
He also expressed confidence that the British Virgin Islands will get to the required 80 percent needed for optimal protection against the virus and its variants.
At the same time, he expressed his gratitude to the UK government for their recent supply of 3,040 fresh doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
“I want to acknowledge that we still had to discard some 685 vials of the vaccines in the Territory on account of them expiring on July 31. The 685 vials were in fact properly disposed [of],” he remarked.
He continued: “With the present situation globally with more and more waves of different variants causing countries to once again close or implement more stringent travel protocols, vaccines supplies are even shorter, and procurement is even more difficult.”
Despite this, Minister Malone said the Government of the Virgin Islands “remains steadfast and continues to do all that it can to ensure that the people of this Territory have every opportunity to get vaccinated.”
He also expressed confidence that the British Virgin Islands will get to the required 80 percent needed for optimal protection against the virus and its variants.
At the same time, he expressed his gratitude to the UK government for their recent supply of 3,040 fresh doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.