This country’s Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Ralph Gonsalves, has announced that persons in the region who take the Russian made Sputnik Vaccine will be recognized as fully vaccinated when entering any CARICOM country.
Speaking on NBC Radio this morning, the Prime Minister revealed that the decision to do so was taken on Monday July 05, 2021 at a meeting of the CARICOM Heads of Government.
Though the Sputnik Vaccine has not yet gotten the approval of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Prime Minister pointed out that the vaccine comes highly recommended among medical professionals across the world and that some 80 countries around the world have already administered the Sputnik Vaccine.
The Prime Minister highlighted the importance of the fact that countries in the region that are only administering WHO approved vaccines have also agreed to recognize the Sputnik for the purposes of migration among CARICOM. Similarly he said St Vincent and the Grenadines would be recognizing the Cuban Abdala Vaccine which has also not been approved by the WHO and which is not being administered here. He cited the fact that of the 64 Vincentian students studying in Cuban, almost all of them have already taken the Abdala Vaccine.
Prime Minister Gonsalves also mentioned that the Government of SVG is currently dealing with contracts in an effort to source additional Sputnik Vaccines.