Kralendijk- A new batch of Pfizer vaccine, enough for 11,000 vaccinations, will soon arrive in Bonaire, according to information from Bonaire.nu.

While Public Health Commissioner Nina den Heyer said she was unable to confirm the amount mentioned, she admitted that talks with The Netherlands about more vaccine shots were ‘ongoing’. According to Den Heyer, some discussion had taken place about the exact way to move forward, but these last details were being ironed out.

The additional shots could arrive as early as this week. Contrary to the situation on Saba and St. Eustatius who receive the Moderna vaccine, the additional vaccine for Bonaire will also be Pfizer. The 11,000 vaccines will be enough to vaccinate an addition 5,500 people each with the two shots needed for a ‘full protection’.

Speed

According to Den Heyer, there is sufficient capacity to vaccinate more people per day. “However, without the necessary vaccine, it is useless to step up the vaccination, simply because sufficient vaccine is not available as of yet”. As soon as the new batch of the Pfizer vaccine arrives, the idea is to vaccinate at least 500 persons per day. For this to happen, registration for those younger than 60 years of age needs to be opened up. Den Heyer could not indicate as of yet when that was scheduled to happen.

Worried

Den Heyer admitted that at this stage she was worried. “We see infections going up fast and Science tells us that the actual number of infected cases is about 3 times higher than what the positive number of test results suggest. The sooner we are able to vaccinate a much bigger number of residents, the better”.

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