TORTOLA, British Virgin Islands, CMC- British Virgin Islands Health Minister Carvin Malone said the government is looking towards securing the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for the territory.

Speaking in the House of Assembly recently, the health minister said the United Kingdom is working closely with local health officials.

“The United Kingdom government has said that we would look in terms of – as quick as possible – getting the Moderna vaccine accessible here in the Virgin Islands and we’re making foot to make sure that this is done.”

“We – if possible – will get both the Pfizer and the Moderna accessible right here in the territory,” Malone said.

Currently, only the AstraZeneca brand of the COVID-19 vaccine is available in the BVI. 

According to Malone, “Questions have previously been raised as to whether the BVI has the storage capacity to facilitate the Pfizer vaccine, given that it is required to be kept at minus 70 degrees Celsius. Moderna has said that its vaccine needs to be frozen too, but only at minus 20 Celsius, which is more like a regular freezer.”

He added that the US Virgin Island (USVI) is committed to giving additional assistance in the interim

Malone announced that during the last trip to St John, he held talks with the USVI’s Lieutenant Governor, Tregenza Roach.

“Deputy Governor Roach has actually committed to bringing the concept of being able to further access the Pfizer vaccine for school-aged children. We will be exploring this to make sure that this could happen,” Malone stated.

Unlike AstraZeneca, Pfizer is the only COVID-19 vaccine approved for children and teens.

In the meantime, with the arrival of the Mu variant of the virus in the territory, Malone encouraged persons who haven’t yet done so to get vaccinated.

So far, the government has rolled out an aggressive vaccination drive in which persons can take advantage of the AstraZeneca vaccines which are made available to BVI by the United Kingdom at no cost.