"When" is mentioned in today's DR 1 news along with "great" news about the, ugh, Chinese vaccine:
Vice President Raquel Peña, who heads the Abinader administration’s Health Cabinet, was at Las Americas International Airport on the evening of 23 February 2021 to receive the shipment of 768,000 Coronavac/Sinovac vaccines from the People’s Republic of China. The vaccines flew in on an Air France flight from China. The Vice President was accompanied by Dr. Mario Lama, who is the head of the National Health Service, and Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez. China ambassador Zhang Run was also present for the arrival of the Chinese vaccines.
The batch includes 728,000 purchased by the Dominican government and 40,000 donated by the Chinese government. President Luis Abinader had said the vaccines cost the government US$21 each. At the airport, Vice President Raquel Peña told journalists each vaccine cost US$20.
Persons in Phase I of the Covid-19 National Vaccination Plan will receive the vaccines.
The National Vaccination Plan Phase I groups are:
Phase IA (Covid-19 front line health workers
Phase IB (all medical workers)
Phase IC (adults 60+ with comorbidities, with priority for those in senior homes)
Phase ID (adults 60+, military and Police, teachers)
Phase I of the National Vaccination Plan encompasses 1.5 million people.
Phase II is scheduled for May to July 2021 and encompasses an additional 1.2 million people. It will cover those 50-59 years with comorbidities first and those 50-59 years.
Phase III is contemplated for August to December 2021 and will first cover the population 18-49 with comorbidities and the rest of the population 18-49.
The vaccines are warehoused at the installations of the Expanded Immunization Program (PAI).
Last week, the first vaccines were received from the India manufacturing plant Covishield/Oxford-AstraZeneca in two batches of 20,000 and 30,000. These were used for front line Covid-19 health care workers.
The Ministry of Public Health reports that 19,117 persons have been vaccinated from 16 to 22 February 2021, the first week of vaccinations in the Dominican Republic. The National Vaccination Plan calls for vaccinating 7.8 million people from February to December 2021.
At the last minute, the Chinese vaccine order was made when it became apparent previous contracted orders would not be delivered as originally stipulated. There is no date for delivery of government orders with the Covax Facility of the World Health Organization/Pan American Health Organization and separate contracting with Oxford-AstraZeneca/United Kingdom and Pfizer-BioNTech.
So far, the country has received 818,000 doses.
In the Caribbean, the situation is the same. Trinidad & Tobago authorities received a small shipment of 2,000 shared by Barbados. Barbados purchased 100,000 vaccines from India’s Oxford-AstraZeneca plant. Jamaica is expecting its first vaccines from the Covax Facility in April 2021.
Read more in Spanish:
Presidency
Noticias SIN
Loop Jamaica
Nation News
NPR
24 February 2021