Oranjestad, St. Eustatius- The island of St. Eustatius is making the preparations to be able to provide the Covid-19 vaccine to everyone who is interested be vaccinated.

On Monday evening Acting Government Commissioner Alida Francis and Dr. Gerwin Schobbe of the Health Department provided some information about the process.

Form

In order to receive the vaccine, residents are asked to fill out a form which will be available at various points on the island. After filling out the form, which will be available from tomorrow, it needs to be submitted to the Health Department.

The plan is to provide the vaccine to everybody 18 and up. People younger than 18, will in principle not be vaccinated. Schobbe called on everyone who has already decided to be vaccinated, to fill out and return the form as soon as possible.

Licks

Dr. Schobbe made an appeal to residents on Statia to not go behind incorrect information about the dangers of the Vaccine. “I hear a lot of stories out there which are simply not correct”, said Schobbe who made an appeal to residents to keep an ‘open mind’ about the vaccine.

According to Schobbe, the vaccine was the opportunity for the island to give some licks to the vaccine which had made a big part of 2020 a difficult one. “Our efforts so far have been concentrated on keeping the virus out of the island, but the vaccine will be the way to be protected against getting sick from this virus”.

Schobbe also pointed out that it was important that enough people get vaccinated. For the vaccination to provide the intended protection for population, about 80% of the eligible population needs to take the vaccine.

The doctor also explained that especially pregnant women are advised not to take the vaccine right now, as is the case with people who suffer from an auto-immune disease.

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