MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands vaccination program will receive support from the UK government

MLA Ian Hansen welcomed the news from Minister Morton who, in confirming vaccination support, also thanked the Falklands for their efforts to contain the virus

The UK Government has written to the Falkland Islands Government to confirm that it has secured an agreement with the UK’s Vaccine Taskforce to supply British Overseas Territories with Covid-19 vaccines when it is able to procure these.

This commitment represents not only a pledge to supply the physical vaccines when they become available, but also extends the UK’s guarantee to provide access to specialist support and expertise, in order to ensure that the Falkland Islands is able to administer and monitor a robust vaccination programme, when the time comes.

MLA Ian Hansen, Deputy Chair of the Legislative Assembly and portfolio lead for Health, said: “This is very welcome news from Minister (Wendy) Morton who, in confirming vaccination support, has also thanked the Falkland Islands for their efforts to contain the virus under very difficult circumstances. We will take the opportunity, through the Joint Ministerial Council, to formally accept this offer and to begin the necessary conversations to understand which vaccines they intend to deploy and when we can expect to receive these.

“We will work closely with the Chief Medical Officer in order to develop detailed plans for the overall vaccination programme, including how we will store the vaccines and then administer these across the community. Colleagues within KEMH have been working tirelessly for months in order to deliver our Covid-19 response and, while this will add to their workload, I hope that it represents good news for the health service in terms of providing another mechanism through which we can continue to keep people safe.”