VMT hosts last two Vaccination Pop-Ups at the Festival Village on Friday and Melford Hazel Sports Complex on Saturday.

PHILIPSBURG (DCOMM):– As the vaccination campaign against COVID-19 transitions into a maintenance phase in August, this weekend will be the last opportunity to come for your first dose of the Pfizer vaccine and your second dose before the end of July.
On Friday, July 9th, there will be a vaccination Pop-Up at the Festival Village, Pond Island, from 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM. The Vaccine Management Team (VMT) would like to encourage everyone, especially those working nearby, to come by during their lunch break or after work to get their vaccination against COVID-19. The Collective Prevention Service (CPS) will be open on Friday, and the Belair Community Center and Caribbean Cinemas will be closed.
Because more and more persons came in for their vaccine this week, the VMT has decided to organize one additional vaccination Pop-Up on Saturday and extend the original deadline of July 9th to Saturday, July 10th. This is done to give those who couldn’t come during the week due to work or other obligations one last opportunity to get themselves vaccinated and protected against the COVID-19 virus. The extra vaccination Pop-Up will be at Melford Hazel Sports Complex in Sucker Garden and will start at 9:00 AM until supply lasts.
The VMT is pleased to see a significant increase in persons coming for their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine last week but emphasizes that the country’s overall vaccine coverage is still low. With this level of vaccination coverage, Sint Maarten will remain vulnerable to new outbreaks.
The tourism sector is starting up again, which is excellent news for the whole island, however, the increased traffic that this will generate also poses a high risk for new outbreaks and different variants, like the Delta variant, which might ruin holidays in the United States and Europe.
The Delta variant is believed to be more contagious than the Alpha (British) variant (which was already more contagious than the original COVID-19, which originated in Wuhan, China). The Delta variant is not more lethal, detectible with a PCR test, and the symptoms are comparable to the other variants, however, the good news is that the Pfizer vaccine has been shown to provide 88% protection against the Delta variant.
The Pfizer vaccine, which is available to all residents of Sint Maarten, will reduce the chance of contracting COVID-19 and different variants.
The vaccine is not a cure but a layer of protection. And in the slight chance that you do get it, this layer protects you against the virus’s severe and possibly deadly symptoms. The vaccine reduces the chance of spreading the virus, so other people don’t die.
All persons 12 years and older are encouraged to come for their COVID-19 vaccination at the Pop-Up location at the Festival Village on Friday, July 9th, from 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM, or on Saturday, July 10th from 9:00 AM until supply lasts at the Melford Hazel Sports Complex in Sucker Garden.
Sint Maarten Protected Together.