And switching gears, 132,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccines arrived in the country today. This was purchased through the partnership between UNICEF and the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust and now, Belizeans can have their pick of which vaccine they'd prefer. And while this new choice will hopefully incentivize other Belizeans to get vaxxed, Minister of Health Michel Chebat said that plenty of others have gotten the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines and there have been no serious adverse effects reported so far.
Hon. Michel Chebat, Minister of Health
"That is a purchase by the government of Belize, we purchased that through the assistance of CARICOM, through the African platform, they had Johnson and Johnson vaccines and we had an opportunity through CARICOM to acquire and we acquired 132,000 doses. I believe it's 1.6 million dollars."
Reporter
"We've seen Belizeans have apprehension or reluctant to the AstraZeneca vaccine, do you foresee them having a different position as it relates to the Johnson and Johnson?"
Hon. Michel Chebat
"You know we as a ministry are reaching out there to try to find as many different vaccines as we can to give our people the options to get vaccination. It is critical for our country for the majority of our people to be vaccinated and so in our search to bring variety of vaccine, we have identified AstraZeneca over 150,000 Belizeans have been vaccinated with AstraZeneca with some credible results. We have over 3,000 kids between the ages of 12 and 17 who have now been vaccinated with the Pfizer and we've had no reports of any adverse effects. The Johnson and Johnson, to be available to the public as of Monday and we're hoping it will have the same result. The idea here is to have as much coverage for people as possible."
Reporter
"Is it still a one-shot vaccine?"
Hon. Michel Chebat
"It is a one-shot vaccine still."
Reporter
"You haven't been hearing word in the US that may change?"
Hon. Michel Chebat
"We know that some of them may be requiring a booster down the road, but I have not heard that Johnson and Johnson is one yet."
Information released yesterday by Johnson and Johnson says it now requires a second booster shot for best efficacy.
