Dominica gets 70k jabs of Covishield vaccine from India

Dominica: The entire world is exhausted with an invisible virus, Dominica too. To fight against this virus, Dominica received 70,000 jabs of Covishield vaccines from India to tackle the global pandemic.

India is supplying donations to many countries in the world under the Vaccine Maitri initiative.

Getting 70k doses of Covishield vaccines in the queue of more than 92 countries seems to be exceptional diplomacy relations between India and Dominica.

Earlier, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit of Dominica had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking 70,000 doses of vaccine to fight the ongoing pandemic.

PM Skerrit emerged as a wise diplomatic person when it comes to the Caribbean, which helps him to take care of his people more efficiently by providing vaccines at the earliest in the whole region.

Prime Minister assured people that everyone in the country would receive the covid-19 vaccine free from any cost, and also for the security of his people, Prime Minister said that no one in the country is forced to take the vaccine, it is up to you if you want to get vaccinated or not. “I would be among the people to take the jab of the vaccine when my turn comes up” stated PM Roosevelt Skerrit in his statement.

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit also stated that he would not participate in the vaccination-related conspiracy theories.

PM Skerrit noted PAHO is doing the work in Dominica and that PAHO has always been very active during and after Hurricane Maria and the current global pandemic.

In 2017, in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, India’s Government graciously provided USD 100,000 for immediate relief and a further USD 1 million for the rebuilding of essential infrastructure. In 2016, India also offered medicine for Dominicans as part of a grant in aid scheme.

India shares close ties with Dominica, which showed its commitment during its tenure as a non-permanent part of the UN Security Council for two years. It had come to India’s support when Pakistan, through China, was targeting India on Kashmir. Through China, Pakistan had sought to get innocent Indians working in Afghanistan listed as global terrorists under the UNSC’s 1267 resolution.

India has already gifted 150,000 COVID vaccines to Bhutan, 100,00 doses to Maldives & 1 million doses to Nepal, 2 million doses to Bangladesh, and the list of numbers is very long. Nevertheless, Dominica and Barbados are among the first Caribbean countries to receive the vaccine.