And the only way those tightening Covid regulations will be relaxed is when the government feels Belize is getting closer to herd immunity - which, right now, is a long ways off.
But the central part of the push to that elusive 70% is getting our under 18 population vaccinated. They comprise almost half the population, and the only vaccine approved for them is the U.S.-made Pfizer.
Belize and its Belmopan-based "Ultracold" freezer have been waiting almost two months for the arrival of those precious vaccines. And they finally came this morning. Cherisse Halsall was on the tarmac.
It came on a Fedex jet, 345,150 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, the only vaccine approved for people 12-17 years old, that's the age of over 40% of Belize's population.
Leyla Moses-Ones, Chargé d' Affaires U.S. Embassy
"The seriousness of the global pandemic remains but there is very good news to celebrate today on this wonderful occasion. Today the United States begins our direct donation of over 245,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to Belize which is enough to fully vaccinate over 170,000 citizens."
These doses are bound for ultracold storage in Belmopan and given at the hand of the U.S. government are the key to the re-opening of Belizean high schools for face-to-face learning:
Hon. Michel Chebat, Minister of Health
"The Cabinet has made a decision that these vaccines will be reserved for all of our young people between the ages of 12-18. This shipment at least."
And today we found out that there will be at least two more shipments promised, hopefully enough for all Belize's children and maybe a few boosters too.
The Minister of Health laid out the plan at the podium.
Hon. Michel Chebat, Minister of Health
"As we are now faced with the introduction of new variants of this virus, we are seeing an increase in the cases which means that we need to intensify our efforts in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic."
"As we endeavor to increase the uptake of the vaccines today's donation of the Pfizer vaccine from the government and people of Belize is timely."
"The donation of these vaccines will help to strengthen our strategy to end the COVID-19 pandemic. It will help us to save lives. To protect those who are most vulnerable. It will assist us to fully open our economy and to return to some semblance of normalcy."
And with normalcy, the hope is that there's time to get all these vaccines into willing arms.
Cherisse Halsall:
"We have to ask what's the expiration date on the vaccines in this tranche?"
Leyla Moses-Ones, Chargé d' Affaires U.S. Embassy
"I think if they're used and stored properly, I don't see why they wouldn't have a shelf life of quite a long time, for immediate use."
Ultimately the answer was that when thawed the vaccines had a shelf life of 90 days but that frozen they should be able to be stored indefinitely.
