Friday, January 8, 2021 — The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) continues its fight against COVID-19 with support to St. Vincent and The Grenadines.  The latest effort occured on Wednesday January 6th, 2021. The OECS PPS (Pooled Procurement Service) distributed a donation of 1000 RT-PCR test kits, the gold standard in COVID-19 detection, which were purchased with support from the Government of the Federative Republic of Brazil.

This donation was transported to St. Vincent and the Grenadines through the Regional Security System (RSS) and was received by the Chief Laboratory Technologist, Mr. Elliot Samuel. Mr. Elliot stated,

“I wish to express sincere gratitude on behalf of the Ministry of Health St. Vincent & the Grenadines, for this much needed and timely donation. It is important to note that the resources given are RT-PCR enzymes, master mix of probes/primers, and controls that the technical team has worked with and Is very familiar with. We thank you for this worthwhile gesture”.

The Government of Brazil donated USD $100,000 to the OECS in support of the COVID-19 response, which was used to obtain testing supplies. 8000 swabs/sample kits have already been distributed to the nine participating Member States of the OECS Pharmaceutical Procurement Services (PPS). 5000 PCR test kits were already delivered with 2000 test kits going to Saint Lucia, and another 2000 to Grenada. The remaining  1000 test Kits will be used to support other Member States in their response to clusters of COVID-19 cases that the region is now experiencing. 

This distribution to St. Vincent and The Grenadines and the receipt of these supplies through the Brazilian Government is yet another example of the benefits to be derived from the OECS Economic Union and highlights the impact the OECS Commission enlists by being the voice for its Member States in the international arena.