Another, thing that comes with the job is the oversight of who gets the promised April 2021 Covid vaccines, and when they get them. As we've reported only 30% of the population will be initially slated to get the jab.
For the remaining 70%, it's just a waiting game. And this morning, Minister Chebat walked us through the list of those who globally, have been prioritized for vaccination, apart from the most vulnerable those include: medical staff, police, and the armed forces.
Cherisse Halsall- Reporter
"The government that you are a part of has said that we are getting vaccines in April and that those vaccines will be given to about 30% of the population. So we'd like to know who forms that 30% and what is going to be procedure to determine who gets what when?"
Hon. Michel Chebat
"Following the PAHO guidelines and who gets first and if you've been following what's been happening in the United States and the United Kingdom the pattern is pretty much the same. The persons who are first in line to get would be our frontline workers and especially our healthcare workers. Thereafter you go to the more vulnerable population which would be the older population. We are simply following the prescribed guidlines that have been established by PAHO."
Cherisse Halsall
"But is there any special consideration for frontline workers who may not be determined so. Like Bank tellers who have to face crowds everyday."
Hon. Michel Chebat
"As we have said repeatedly in the public that the initial amount of vaccines we are getting is to cover 30% of the population. And when we refer to frontline workers we are really referring to our medical staff and our security forces- the police and the BDF in the first instance."
Belize's Covid vaccines are slated to arrive via a collaborative effort with the Inter-American Development Bank.
They've done this by providing half a million dollars to the COVAx facility for the Vaccines. They are also working with GOB and the Ministry of Health to provide the necessary cold storage required once the vaccines arrive.
