OPM responds to UNC, says Rowley wrote to Biden for vaccines in March

Prime Minister and Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Dr Keith Rowley, wrote to United States President Joseph Biden on March 19, to request that he shares his country's surplus of COVID-19 vaccines with the region.

This was announced via a statement by the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) on Monday in response to calls from Caroni East Member of Parliament, Dr Rishad Seecheran, for the government to make an immediate request for vaccines through the US consulate in Port-of-Spain.

Dr Seecheran was making note of plans by the Biden Administration to begin sharing its entire pipeline of vaccines from Oxford-AstraZeneca once it clears Federal safety reviews. As many as 60 million doses are expected to be available for export in the coming months.

The MP also called on the ruling administration to be proactive and apply for COVID-19 jabs as he highlighted the presence of the Brazilian Variant (P1) in the population.

However, according to the OPM, Dr Rowley had already been in contact with President Biden who gave the undertaking to assist the Caribbean region.

The release said: "President Biden in his response [on April 1] confirmed the United States’ commitment to partnering with COVAX and other multinational institutions to ensure the equitable distribution of vaccines."

Giving a further breakdown, the OPM reminded that the Prime Minister has been in talks with various US officials with whom he discussed vaccine distribution.

It stated: "On 25 March 2021 and again on 7 April 2021 Dr Rowley met with US Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services. One of the key issues discussed at these meetings was the need for the equitable distribution of vaccines."

"On 19 April 2021, the Prime Minister held talks with Elizabeth Cameron, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Global Health Security and Biodefense at The White House to again highlight the critical need for the region to have an adequate and urgent supply of vaccines."

Meanwhile, the OPM assured that as Prime Minister and CARICOM Chair Dr Rowley raised heightened concerns about the increased danger posed by the inevitable possibility of variants of the COVID-19 virus developing or entering the region

It ended: "A commitment was received that once the policy of redistribution is readied CARICOM will not be ignored."