The Governor has announced that the COVID-19 vaccine will be mandatory for residents of the Turks and Caicos on work permits. Persons who (by choice) elect not to receive a COVID-19 vaccine will not have annual work permits renewed and will be required to leave the islands.
All resident adults in the Turks and Caicos are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine free of charge. For more information or to register, see the COVID-19 Registration Portal.
As of 18 April 2021, 15,674 people have been vaccinated in the Turks and Caicos against COVID-19 (at least one dose). This is approximately 35% of the total Turks and Caicos population.
The Turks and Caicos began vaccinating the local population against the Coronavirus (COVID-19) on 11 January 2021.
Governor Nigel Dakin and then-Premier Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson were amongst the first to receive the vaccine in an effort to encourage persons to take it.
The initial batch of 9,750 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus (COVID-19), enough to vaccinate 4,875 people (approximately 11% of the population), arrived in the country on Thursday, 7 January 2021, via the London to Providenciales British Airways flight.
The Turks and Caicos Government accepted the offer of the United Kingdom for doses of the vaccine in November 2020 shortly before it received regulatory approval from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the United Kingdom.
The Turks and Caicos, along with the Cayman Islands and Bermuda, were the only British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean to receive this initial batch of vaccines from the UK. This was attributed to the Turks and Caicos having the required infrastructure to maintain the vaccine (requires cooling to -70 C) and distribute it effectively.
Roll-out Plan
The Governor on 23 December 2020 announced details on who would be vaccinated first. The first priority group would be the elderly, health care workers, those with underlying medical conditions, and residents and workers at long-term care facilities. This would be followed by front-line workers at an increased risk.
Vaccine Mandatory for Some Persons
On 22 April 2021, the Governor announced that persons on work permits who (by choice) decide not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine will not have their work permits renewed and will be asked to leave the islands.