By: CS Global Partners
February 23, 2021
After receiving 70,000 vaccination doses from India, the Commonwealth of Dominica has begun rolling out its doses with President Charles Savarin being the first Dominican to take the vaccine last Friday. The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine will be distributed in a mass rollout on the island, planned by the Ministry of Health, anticipated to begin on February 22nd.
Dominica is one of the nations least impacted by the coronavirus, recording zero deaths since the outbreak. Despite the pandemic, the administration has ensured that national development projects continue to progress while also guaranteeing the financial protection of its citizens with $12.7 million invested in COVID-19 relief efforts.
In order to maintain those high standards, Dominica is ensuring that its neighbouring islands also receive the vaccine to encourage herd immunity in the region. “We are an island, but we are not isolated, nor are we immune from what is happening in the rest of the region. While we would like to see herd immunity here in Dominica, our safety will depend on herd immunity in the region, Barbados and the OECS. I believe the efforts being made here, in Barbados and the sharing of resources with the rest of the OECS will help us in managing more effectively and efficiently this pandemic and hopefully in the short run create herd immunity in the OECS and Barbados,” President Savarin noted.
Dominica’s commitment to healthcare on the island has been demonstrated in recent years as the island prioritises transforming the sector to benefit its citizens better. This includes building 12 new health centres and a modern, state-of-the-art hospital with a higher quality of services, sponsored directly by the island’s Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Programme. Established nearly three decades ago, the Programme promotes foreign direct investment into the nation in exchange for the granting of citizenship.
Aside from improving its healthcare infrastructure, Dominica has a holistic approach to health that reflects the island’s natural topography. Known as ‘The Nature Isle of the Caribbean’, Dominica’s abundance of nature is linked intrinsically with health and wellness on the island. Dominica is home to thermal springs that promote healing, while its eco-resorts have a wide range of wellness activities to participate in from yoga to chiropractic care. In recent years, the Financial Times fDi Intelligence Service recognised Dominica as a top 20 tourism destinations within the ‘health and wellness’ tourism category.
With much of the world still battling COVID-19 and its new variants, Dominica is on its way to effectively beat the virus and herald in a new era of wellness that the rest of the globe can stand to learn from.