vaccinations

The first shipment of Pfizer will arrive in the country on Thursday.

397,000 doses were donated to the Bahamas by the US government and are a part of nearly 837,000 doses delivered to Caribbean countries.

Prime Minister Hubert Minnis announced in the House of Assembly on Wednesday that the country will receive 128,700 doses of the Pfizer vaccine on Thursday.

The vaccines are due to arrive by flight at 1:30pm tomorrow.

“Along with the doses we will receive tomorrow, the vaccine supplies we already received, and other doses on the way, over the next weeks and months we will have the capacity to vaccinate all Bahamians and residents who wish to receive the vaccine,” said Minnis

“Our vaccine supply will allow us to give a significant percentage of our population protection. This will in time lessen the likelihood that we will have large-scale surges that cause extremely high hospitalizations.”

Minnis noted that the Pfizer vaccine will be available to adults and to 12- to 17-year-olds with the consent of a parent or guardian.

Minnis thanked the US Government for the generous donation, including the assistance of the US Embassy in Nassau, and the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), for facilitating the donation.

As countries around the world clamor for access to vaccines for their population, Belgium’s budget state secretary, Eva De Bleeker, used Twitter to post a price list of the leading vaccines. But she quickly deleted the post before it was screen-shot and shared.

Why it matters

The price of COVID19 vaccines is considered a “commercial secret.” In fact, Pfizer complained that the Belgian minister violated its confidentiality. The company said, “These prices are covered by a confidentiality clause in the contract with the European Commission,” said Elisabeth Schraepen, the US drugmaker’s spokeswoman for the Benelux region to the Belgian daily Le Soir.

Driving the news

The price list shows that Moderna is the most expensive of the leading six vaccinations, while Oxford/AstraZeneca is the least expensive. Other countries can now negotiate a better deal with the pharmaceutical companies since the release of these details.

This is the list of what the EU is paying, that was shared via Twitter:

• Oxford/AstraZeneca: €1.78 (£1.61)= $2.36 ($2.14)
• Johnson & Johnson: $8.50 (£6.30)= $11.28 ($8.36)
• Sanofi/GSK: €7.56 = $10.03
• Pfizer/BioNTech: €12= $15.92
• CureVac: €10=$13.27
• Moderna: $18= $23.88

Worth noting

Nearly three weeks ago, Minister of Health Renward Wells expressed a preference for the Oxford and Moderna vaccines. However, he said if the country is able to access the Pfizer vaccine first, then “we’ll go with that.”

Wells revealed to the Nassau Guardian that the price of the Oxford vaccine will cost about £2, which equates to $4 per dose.

“I think the one through the COVAX facility is about $15 per dose,” Wells said.