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October 4, 2021

As a remote dual-island in the Caribbean region, St Kitts and Nevis has made strides over the years to build a self-sustaining economy. Much of the country’s revenue depends on tourism.

• St Kitts and Nevis government spends over $18 million to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Three quarters of St Kitts and Nevis target population is vaccinated with first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
• The Prime Minister also thanked St Kitts and Nevis’s bilateral partners for their generosity in providing vaccines.

St Kitts and Nevis has spent over EC$18 million implementing measures to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Prime Minister Timothy Harris during a news conference. He added that the funds were being used to access vehicles, wards, quarantine facilities and testing aid. The news comes as the Prime Minister announced the first-dose vaccination of over 75 percent of the Federation’s target population last week.

According to Prime Minister Harris, an additional five million dollars on this health initiative will be spent by the end of the year. This will bring the total cost of COVID-19 related expenditure to more than EC$23 million.

During his virtual address at the UN General Assembly, he expressed the need to continue investing in a resilient health system. “We believe strongly that no one is safe until everyone is safe. That requires equitable access to vaccines and other medical products,” the Prime Minister said. “We took action providing social protection programs for those in need. Indeed, we implemented a EC$120 million COVID-19 stimulus package. We reduced corporate income tax for employers to retain 75% of the workforce and introduced VAT and import duty waivers for pandemic related products.”

The Prime Minister also thanked St Kitts and Nevis‘s bilateral partners for their generosity in providing vaccines. The nation’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mark Brantley, who was in New York for the UNGA, thanked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for facilitating the timely distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, which he said enabled him to attend the event.