Turks and Caicos Welcomes Arrival of 4th Batch of Vaccines and British Army Short Term Training Team

#TurksandCaicos, July 8, 2021 – Acting Governor Her Excellency Anya Williams and Government Representative the Honourable Otis Morris Minister of Home Affairs on Wednesday July 7, 2021 welcomed the arrival of the Royal Air Force (RAF) which traveled to the Turks and Caicos Islands from Brighton, United Kingdom to deliver the TCI’s 4th batch of COVID-19 vaccines, as well as the British Army Household Calvary Short Term Training Team (STTT).

The Turks and Caicos Islands courtesy of the United Kingdom received another 7,020 doses of the Pfizer BionTech vaccine in order to continue its vaccination program which now stands at 62% across the islands.

The STTT team of 14 officers is visiting the Turks and Caicos Islands to train the cohort of the first locally recruited Marines to join the TCI Regiment.

Forty one recruits are expected to benefit from the training exercise in various Military Subjects, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) and Seamanship and Navigation.

The training will take place at the Long Bay High School and is being facilitated in partnership with the Turks and Caicos Islands Governor’s Office and the Defence Attaché, Kingston Jamaica.

Commenting on the arrival of the vaccines and STTT, Acting Governor Her Excellency Anya Williams said: “We are grateful to the United Kingdom for the receipt of our 4th batch of COVID-19 vaccines and for the support that they have provided throughout the pandemic.

As of Sunday July 4th, 2021 a total of 21,738 persons, which equates to 62% of the adult population across the TCI had been fully vaccinated.

With the arrival of our 4th batch of vaccines we intend to continue our vaccination in anticipation of reaching our target goal of 70% within the next few weeks.

We are pleased to welcome as well the British Army Household Calvary Short Term Training Team (STTT) who will be assisting with the training of our recently recruited marines.

The training takes place at a pertinent time as we prepare for what is anticipated to be an active hurricane season and will be of great benefit to us in not only preparing our local team in the area of disaster response, but in other critical areas as well.

We express our thanks to the United Kingdom for their assistance in these critical areas and for facilitating the RAF flight to the TCI in the absence of direct airlift from British Airways, which I am pleased to advise will recommence flights to the TCI on July 20, 2021.

We look forward to the continued success of our vaccination program and to a productive training program for our TCI Regiment and Marines.”