The Tribune

By MALCOLM STRACHAN

THIS past weekend, the requirements for fully-vaccinated travellers to provide evidence of a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR test before being permitted into the country were officially dropped. Within government and the tourism industry, this was viewed as the right move. This comes despite Dr Merceline Dahl-Regis, the chair of the National COVID-19 Vaccine Consultative Committee, admitting that research is ongoing.

“The committee is reviewing the transmissibility,” she said, adding: “Are you able to transmit the virus after you’ve been fully vaccinated? That is the only discussion we need to have and how long after you’re fully vaccinated, do you need any testing?”

She referred to CDC guidelines that suggest that for the fully vaccinated, while transmission might occur, it “does not produce significant illness”.

Meanwhile, with that research still under way, our country is falling short in mass testing and percentage of the population vaccinated.

A total of 1,096 cases were recorded in April, nearly doubling March totals. To this point, vaccinations are at somewhat of a standstill, as we await the remaining 67,200 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the COVAX facility. Once those doses are administered, we will still not be anywhere near herd immunity, only having vaccinated 20 percent of the population.

Last week, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis encouraged businesses to have their unvaccinated employees take COVID-19 tests weekly to essentially avoid closures.

He said: “Kindly encourage all of your employees to become vaccinated, because if your employees are vaccinated, and one individual enters your premises who has evidence of COVID, you need not close your premises. You can continue.

“If one of your employees is not vaccinated and has COVID and the remainder of your employees are vaccinated, you need not close your premises. Your business can continue.

“However, if your employees are not vaccinated, and an individual enters your premises who has evidence of COVID, then your business is subsequently closed temporarily for a cleaning, thus jeopardising your economic progress,” said Dr Minnis.

Certainly, while this is not an outright vaccine mandate, which the competent authority could have decided to do, this certainly incentivises the private sector to mandate such policies that would come at a significant cost to the Bahamian people. As the current price for a COVID-19 test stands at $100, it goes without saying that the prime minister’s suggestion can result in an unfair burden being saddled on employees in the private sector.

We’ve seen a snapshot of what could possibly take place on a larger scale last month as a popular restaurant in western New Providence made the news after reports circulated they were forcing their employees to get vaccinated or face penalties.

But the government’s lack of acknowledgement of its decision not to supply free testing, coupled with its inability to acquire sufficient amounts of the vaccine, place the populace in a precarious position. Of the 200,000 plus Bahamians in our labour force, only 60,000 will be vaccinated from the initial tranches of the vaccine. While we don’t have data on the employment status of those vaccinated, a fair amount of retired and unemployed Bahamians would have accounted for some of the doses already given.

One would think these would be concerns for any government. But for whatever reason, the government’s focus is squarely on making the destination the most attractive for potential visitors – no matter the cost on the populace.

WHO Director General Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus recently lamented the run on vaccines by the world’s wealthier countries and is hoping they will do their part as good world citizens by making surplus vaccines available to poorer countries. This comes as the US is reportedly getting ready to dump 60 million doses of AstraZeneca – from which Health Minister Renward Wells is hopeful we will receive a portion.

As concerns of geopolitical agendas loom with 80 percent of COVID-19 vaccines still in the hands of the world’s wealthier nations – a point raised by Dr Ghebreyesus - the government needs to keep an open line with the Bahamian people. We still have no more information on where we will get the next set of vaccines from, but that hasn’t stopped the government from easing travel restrictions – another point the WHO Director General made.

Deeming it “vaccine euphoria” – the practice by which governments are undermining “hard-won gains” as some countries are prematurely relaxing public health measures, such as allowing fully vaccinated travellers to enter the country without proof of a negative COVID-19 test while the majority of our population remains unvaccinated.

Dr Ghebreyesus aptly diagnosed the situation, stating that the longer the coronavirus circulates, the longer the global recovery will remain in the balance.

“The longer this coronavirus circulates anywhere, the longer global trade and travel will be disrupted, and the higher the chances that a variant could emerge that renders vaccines less effective. That’s just what viruses do,” he concluded.

Also speaking to the potential for vaccinated travellers being vectors for the virus, Senior Director of Infection Prevention at the Johns Hopkins Health System Dr Lisa Maragakis maintains that vulnerable populations are being put at risk. “While countries may welcome the income from tourism, additional cases can tip over a fragile health system,” she added.

It is rather concerning that such measured approaches are being taken outside of the country, but we are about embark on our greatest gamble yet.

The countries that have been successful either on the front or back-ends of the pandemic have either instituted mass testing of their citizens or have had efficient vaccination programmes. Our country’s global position has not afforded us the latter, but the government can certainly consider mass testing our citizens, beginning with New Providence and Grand Bahama.

Governing by focusing on the economy at the sacrifice of public health has not served any country well during this pandemic. Nor will it do so for us.

It’s just like my mother used to say – “Trouble is easy to get into and much harder to get out.”