CIG and Governor’s Statements on Vaccines for Children and Molnupiravir
The following statements were issued this evening by the Cayman Islands Government and the Office of the Governor.
Statement by CIG on Vaccines for 5-11 Year Olds
The Chief Medical Officer confirms that Cayman Islands Government is committed to ensuring the availability of COVID-19 vaccinations for children between the ages of five and 12 years old.
However, the vaccination programme is overseen by the UK Government, which has donated and transported both the Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines for use in the Cayman Islands.
As such, the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines in this age group must first be approved by the Medicines Healthcare products and Regulatory Agency of the UK. Following this, the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office would need to send the special paediatric formulations to our Islands.
Government is working closely with the Governor’s Office towards this end.
Statement from Governor’s Office on Molnupiravir
The Governor’s Office welcomes the news of the approval of molnupiravir in the UK. This is an anti-viral tablet stored at room temperature that can be used to reduce serious illness in COVID-19 patients, if deployed early in the course of the infection. We are working with the Cayman Islands Ministry of Health, the UK Health Security Agency, FCDO and the UK’s Department for Health and Social Care to confirm when the medication might be made available to the Overseas Territories.