Ministry of Health limits Pfizer vaccination to persons receiving second jabs, on account of dwindling stock
The Ministry of Health has announced that, effective October 12, it will administer only the second doses of the Pfizer vaccine to adults and children.
This is because supplies of that brand are running low, and Health officials want to ensure that persons who have already received the first dose are able to get their second.
Meanwhile, the Government is expecting the arrival of the second batch of Pfizer vaccines from the United States.
Dispensing first doses will resume once this shipment arrives. But in the meantime, Prime Minister Gaston Browne says he will borrow vaccines from Dominica and St. Vincent until Antigua and Barbuda can get its second tranche.
Until then, second doses of the Pfizer vaccine will be administered at the Multipurpose Cultural and Exhibition Center from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Mondays through Fridays.
And according to the Ministry of Health, “Adults who are yet to be vaccinated may wish to utilize any of the other three COVID-19 vaccines currently available.”
These include the two-dose Sinopharm and AstraZeneca vaccines and the single-dose Johnson and Johnson. The Sputnik V drug is not mentioned.
Meanwhile, after nurses brought the weekend vaccination drive to a halt over the non-payment of their overtime wages, inoculation will resume this weekend, October 16 and 17, at the American University of Antigua.
