Health officials are hopeful that by August 2021, one in five Caribbean nationals, including Barbadians, could be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Dr Yitades Gebre, Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO)/World Health Organisation (WHO) representative for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, said more than 165 candidate vaccines were at some stage of development, of which 25 vaccine candidates were in human trials.

At least three or four were going into Phase 3 trial and Barbados, most of the Eastern Caribbean states and another 75 countries had submitted expressions of interest in the COVAX facility, he said.

COVAX is the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator. Its aim is to accelerate the development and manufacture of coronavirus vaccines, and to guarantee fair and equitable access for every country in the world.