PHILIPSBURG: --- Minister of VSA Richard Panneflek told members of the media on Wednesday during the Council of Minister's press bring that today March 17th marks one year since Sint Maarten reported its first case of COVID-19 on the southern side of the island.
Panneflek said this time last year there were a lot of unknowns with panic and fear seeping into public sentiment.
“No one could have ever predicted how crippling COVID-19 would have been. People lost their jobs, families were separated from loved ones, parents had to learn to balance working remotely while adapting to distance learning for their children, social distancing, hand hygiene, and mask-wearing became the norm,” the Minister said.
The Minister further states that the people of St. Maarten have learned a lot from this pandemic and how fragile the economy is, the importance of a strong public health system, and ensuring that the healthcare infrastructure meets the demands that are required in a health crisis.
And like every natural disaster that has come to our shores, we have proven time and time again that we are a resilient people, The Minister said.
The Minister also acknowledged the frontline health care workers and those behind the scenes such as laboratory professionals. He said those workers navigated the crisis, risked their lives, sacrificed their family and personal time to help and save others.
He also expressed gratitude to his colleagues within the government, the health professionals from the Netherlands, the AMI team, local businesses, and countless volunteers who generously devoted their time to supporting CPS in their toughest hours.
Currently, there are 10 active cases of COVID-19, and while this trend is moving in the right direction, he reminded the public that St. Maarten is not yet out of the woods as yet.
“We have been here before. Just this past summer after much sacrifice, dedication, and effort, we saw zero cases for almost 2 months followed by a drastic resurgence. This is a reminder that COVID-19 is real, a resurgence in cases may be inevitable, and collectively we need to do our part to protect ourselves, our families, and our greater community.”
Currently, the Ministry is actively mobilizing vaccination clinics to vaccinate the population. St. Maarten is privileged to have received the Pfizer vaccine which at this point, has proven to be one of the more effective vaccines against COVID-19.
Similarly, their partners in the North, have begun to vaccinate those most at risk; the elderly, health care workers, and more recently, persons aged 18-59 with underlying medical conditions. As such he was informed by the VMT manager that they have administrated over 4000 vaccinations, whereby some already received their second dosses of vaccines and St. Maarten will receive the next batch soon from the Netherlands.
The Minister called on the community to take advantage as the vaccines, especially Pfizer are scarce, at this moment, free and the government cannot guarantee supply in the long-term.
In the meantime, the Minister said that for now, St. Maarten will not receive the AstraZeneca vaccines from the Netherlands. He said that only the vaccines that are distributed in the Netherlands will be sent to St. Maarten since parts of Europe including the Netherlands have suspended the use of AstraZeneca to further probe the information on the blood clot formation from the vaccine.
However, the Minister said that AstraZeneca some countries in Europe as well as Britain have continued the use of the vaccines, including neighboring Tortola.
