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Prime Minister Mia Mottley says Covid-19 restrictions could be reduced or removed by the end of November if more persons get vaccinated

PM appeals for 50,000 more to be vaccinated

If at least another 50,000 persons are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 before the end of November, the country can reduce and remove the current restrictions.
Before leaving the island today to attend the UN General Assembly in New York, Prime Minister Mia Mottley told the public during a Covid-19 update yesterday that while the island was “inching along nicely” in terms of getting the population inoculated, it needed to move faster to be able to protect all citizens.
With currently over 125,000 persons having received their first dose, she said it was necessary for at least 175,000 to be fully vaccinated for the country to be able to open up more.
“We need at least another 50,000 persons vaccinated. We will not reach there in one jump, but we will do so day by day and week by week, but I want to say to Barbadians let us agree to simple targets. Let us agree to aim to get as close to 10,000 persons per week being vaccinated. We're now just under 6,500 I think a week. So I'm asking to go a little higher … And if we can do that and we can maintain that each week for the next five weeks, then we will have the majority of those persons fully vaccinated before the end of November, before Independence Day, and Christmas, such that we may as a country, consider then the options of significant review and removal of restrictions that we have in place,” she said.
However, she was quick to point out that even at that point Covid-19 protocols will still be in place to prevent possible spread.
“We will still have to wear the mask, we will still have to sanitize, and we will still have to watch our density and to do physical distancing, but if we can move 10,000 people per week in each of the next five weeks, there will then be a clear and justifiable case for the government to take to the doctors and the public health specialists that will allow us to gradually remove the restrictions, even as we count these weeks, such that, as I said by the end of November, there will be no more restrictions for us to remove. And what do I mean by that? If in the next week, for example, we can see 10,000 people being vaccinated, then there is a clear case to review the measures, and to be able to review the hours for curfew and to push it back later, whether it is from nine to 10, and remove it from six to 10 on Sundays, and that's the kind of conversation that I want us to have because it is important that you understand what is the criteria that we are considering as we meet with the public health specialists, and the doctors and the EOC, in terms of where we go,” she stressed. (JMB)

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