ORANJESTAD–Aruba Prime Minister Evelyn Wever-Croes, Minister of Finance Xiomara Maduro and Public Health Minister Dangui Oduber were vaccinated on Monday. They hope to motivate Arubans to follow their example.
“Today, I too got vaccinated because I love myself, my family and Aruba,” Wever-Croes said afterwards.
A limited number of persons of 60 years and over, some 5,000 in total, registered for the COVID-19 Pfizer/BioNTech vaccination. In total, Aruba received close to 12,000 vaccines to vaccinate the elderly and health care personnel.
Recommended by her general practitioner and seeing the importance of setting an example, Wever-Croes said she had decided to get vaccinated, also in the interest of reviving Aruba’s economy and protecting the elderly.
“My preference was to wait for my turn to get vaccinated. But seeing Aruba’s general interest, we need to stimulate our people to get vaccinated, I decided to go ahead. The general interest comes first and I hope that this will inspire others to also get their vaccination so Aruba can progress,” Wever-Croes stated.
COVID-19 not only affected Aruba’s tourism-driven economy enormously, but also public health with the total number of deaths now standing at 71 persons. Aruba has the most COVID-17 deaths of the Dutch Caribbean, the majority of the deceased patients being over the age of 65.
“The effects of the coronavirus are especially heavy on our elderly and the vulnerable among us who suffer from a chronic disease. That is why it is important that eventually the entire adult population is vaccinated, to prevent that they infect elder persons and people with a chronic medical condition,” she said.
So far, willingness to preregister for the vaccination has been limited. Therefore, Wever-Croes called on everyone to register via the Aruba Health app. “We will respect if you are a person who doesn’t want to get vaccinated. But please also respect our wish to get Aruba back on its feet. Too many people are suffering at the hands of the coronavirus and now is the time to start on the recovery of our country. Aruba is counting on you.”
The three ministers said their vaccination on Monday went well. In the coming weeks, Aruba will receive more batches of COVID-19 vaccines from the Netherlands. Aruba was the first country in the Dutch Caribbean to start vaccinations, the day after receiving the vaccines last week Tuesday.
Bron: Daily Herald