Johnson & Johnson’s 132,000 doses arrives in Belize

Belize: A total of 132,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID19 vaccines arrived in Belize on Thursday. These vaccines are provided by UNICEF and the African Union’s African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT).

Dr Melissa Diaz Musa, Deputy Regional Manager, Central Health Region, on behalf of MOHW, and Ms Paulett Wade, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, UNICEF Belize, were present on the arrival of vaccines at the Philip Goldson International Airport.

On the arrival of vaccines, the Minister of Health & Wellness – Michel Chebat, expressed his gratitude and stated, “We continue to be grateful for additional options of vaccines to support our countrywide vaccine drives.”

UNICEF Representative to Belize – Alison Parker via social media post cited, “It is important to ensure equitable access to vaccines to increase the level of protection amongst the populace, and fast track the return to normalcy that is imperative to the livelihoods and survival of families and children of Belize.”

Parker added that with the support of international partners like AVAT, UNICEF would continue to advocate and assemble resources to assist Belize in its COVID-19 recovery process and help the country achieve herd immunity target.

Belize’s Health Ministry emphasized, “Individuals who are able to be vaccinated would soon have another option at vaccine sites when querying about COVID19 vaccines.

The Health Minister once again has urged the citizens to take their jabs of the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible and remind the public to adhere to COVID-19 health protocols.

The African Union (AU), including 55 member states, bought 400 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for the African continent in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson. These vaccines will boost the COVID-19 vaccination drive of the island country.

According to the statistics, 39.1 per cent of Belize’s population received the first dose of the vaccine, while only 16.6 per cent are fully vaccinated against the deadly mutant.