US sending 837K vaccine doses to Caribbean

The United States will send more than 800,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses to the Caribbean, the White House said Wednesday, the first batch of shots to be shipped to the island nations in that region.

“Today, we are excited to announce our first doses going to CARICOM countries,” White House deputy press secretary Kevin Munoz tweeted, using an abbreviation for Caribbean community. “The US continues to lead on an unprecedented effort to vaccinated the world and every day we are making progress. We need everyone to step up in this fight against the virus.”

The Associated Press first reported on the allocation of doses, which will consist of 837,000 Pfizer shots. The Bahamas will receive nearly 400,000 doses, and Trinidad and Tobago will get roughly 305,000 doses. Barbados will receive roughly 70,000 doses, the AP reported, while St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and St. Kitts and Nevis will each receive several thousand shots.

The AP reported that the Caribbean region has reported roughly 1.3 million COVID-19 infections since the pandemic began, and more than 16,000 people there have died of the virus. More than 10 million people on the islands have been vaccinated to date.

The White House has touted its vaccine diplomacy efforts having donated millions of doses to date through the COVAX program or on a bilateral basis.