Grenada to Establish Vaccination Site for Hotel Workers

Within the first eight days of Grenada receiving its first shipment of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, 146 persons have received the first dose, including Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell and Health Minister Nickolas Steele.

Hundreds more are set to get inoculated, following the government’s decision to target tourism and other hospitality workers.

One vaccination site has already been established at the island’s lone general hospital, and Acting Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Shawn Charles disclosed on Wednesday that a second one will be established.

That site will be primarily for workers in the tourism/hospitality sector.

“We are at an advanced stage of making the arrangements for that to occur, likely in the coming week…. We have identified a site, in a very central location, and we will be communicating that information to everyone,” Dr. Charles said.

Most of Grenada’s hotels are now classified as quarantine-safe facilities and all incoming visitors are required to be quarantined before they are allowed to mix with the general population.

The island’s priority list for distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine also includes law enforcement officers such as police and prison officers.

The latest COVID-19 dashboard, dated February 16, shows no new or active cases in Grenada. However, 179 people are in quarantine after being allowed to enter the country.

Grenada is scheduled to receive 45,600 AstraZeneca vaccines through the COVAX facility, but last week, the country received 3,000 vaccinations as a gift from the Government of India.

Other members of Cabinet, the Commissioner of Police, as well as frontline healthcare workers in the private and public sectors were also vaccinated within the last week.

CMC