The Tribune

THE road out of the COVID crisis was always going to be bumpy and right now it seems we’re being bounced all over the place.

In the last few days we’ve seen an announcement that our existing rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca is being paused while the vaccine committee reviews exactly where it is at.

PAHO meanwhile has warned it is going to be facing problems next month delivering vaccines to countries as there are now various problems in the supply chain.

On a daily basis we continue to see a moderately high number of new cases, especially in New Providence. Sadly there have been more deaths and the number who are being admitted to hospital is slowly creeping up.

Former Health Minister Dr Duane Sands said yesterday he believes the current position is “frightening” and if we continue on our current course we will be forced to reintroduce the hard-lockdowns we experienced last year.

If this wasn’t enough the Labour Director has now confirmed his department is looking into at least three cases where companies have told their employees that to continue working they must take the vaccine.

These three companies have certainly jumped the gun as for thousands here – assured by the Prime Minister that taking the vaccine was an entirely personal choice – their current position is they don’t want it.

Just look at the numbers who have taken the vaccine so far. On Sunday – the last time we were given an official number – it was 15,000. It’s likely through this week that figure has risen nearer to 20,000 and with inoculations beginning in Abaco yesterday and moving out to the Family Islands our existing supply is, probably, going to dry up very quickly.

Those who have received the first dose have been assured they’ll get the second vaccine which means, pretty soon, we’ll have used up our stock and just over 26,000 people will be vaccinated.

Health Minister Renward Wells confidently boasted last month that we’d achieve herd immunity – that means 80 percent of the public vaccinated – by early summer. At the time it seemed an incredible statement and looks more so today as the hard facts of a rapidly moving situation sink in.

It may be that in the months ahead many people will have to reassess where they stand on vaccination. The widespread “I’ll wait and see what happens” approach isn’t going to see us through in the long run.

Without vaccinations the virus will continue to reap its terrible harvest, slowing down in lockdowns, blooming when the controls are relaxed and running free.

The UK – after making blunder after blunder over many months in handling the crisis – has at least turned the corner through a massive vaccination rollout. In January it was running with 100,000 cases a day and several thousand deaths per week; today it is a few thousand cases and around 50 deaths.

For the UK vaccination appears to have worked, herd immunity according to some experts, is just a short step away.

If we are to achieve the same something is going to have to change in our attitude towards vaccination.

Companies unilaterally demanding staff be inoculated before being allowed into work is going to be a problem which will only get bigger.

Cruise lines returning here this summer have already given us a huge clue as what’s going to happen. They are promising passengers – who must be vaccinated – that the entire crew will also have been immunised.

How long before one of the big hotels – struggling to lure back the tourists who so loved coming here – decide they have no choice but to follow suit and offer guests a vaccinated staff?

Just imagine our Caribbean neighbours – our tourism competitors – go much harder on vaccination. If you were an American family picking a Caribbean holiday would you go to a “herd immunity” destination or come here?

It’s incredibly difficult, fraught with moral and legal challenges, but we’re in a new world and better get used to it.