The Tribune

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

WHILE acknowledging the startling increase in COVID-19 cases in The Bahamas, Pan American Health Organization officials have renewed appeals to regional people and healthcare workers to take the vaccine.

This came at PAHO’s weekly webinar that updates the region on the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing attention to the low numbers of vaccinations around the Caribbean, PAHO’s Director Dr Carissa Etienne revealed that less than 20 percent of the Caribbean population are vaccinated.

“As a Caribbean person, I want to add my voice to this because I am truly very concerned about what is happening in the Caribbean,” Dr Etienne said. “I want to make a special appeal to my fellow Caribbean persons to please be careful. We have to be extremely careful. We have limited bed capacity and limited ICU capacity in our small islands.

“What we are seeing now is persons totally relaxing on the public health measures and a high level of vaccine hesitancy where vaccines, even where they are available, persons are not coming forward. We are seeing vaccine hesitancy in healthcare workers.

“We also have limited expertise in terms of the numbers of healthcare workers, the number of respiratory workers, and the number of anesthesiologists. Our health systems will become overwhelmed very quickly. I don’t know the sources that are triggering this level of vaccine hesitancy, but I can tell you they are not scientifically proven.

“I want to appeal to you to listen to the sources where you have truthful scientifically based information. The vaccines work and the proof that vaccines work is because in the cases that are now hospitalised with severe illness and deaths, more than 95 percent of those have not been vaccinated.”

Over the past week, more than 1.3 million COVID-19 cases and more than 19,000 COVID-related deaths were reported in the region.

“It is really foolhardy to not adhere to public health measures, to not become vaccinated in a situation where capacity is limited at the hospitals,” Dr Etienne said. “It is foolhardy. We are playing with our lives. My appeal to you is to wake up from that slumber or that dream because we know that the vaccines are safe.

“Deaths are rising in nearly every country in Central America, including a 30 percent increase reported in El Salvador. In the Caribbean, we are witnessing a similar story in the more populous islands. Cases are rising in Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico, as well as in Martinique and The Bahamas. Fewer than 20 percent of people in the Caribbean have been fully immunised, and in some countries that number is less than five percent.

“Cases and deaths continue to rise in Canada, Mexico and the United States, as adherence to public health measures relaxes, the Delta variant circulates, and vaccination coverage varies within countries. Although cases are surging in some areas, there is clear evidence that wherever vaccines are available, they limit severe illness and save lives.”

PAHO revealed a new initiative for countries to receive much needed vaccines.

Dr Etienne also explained why the new opportunity for vaccines is so important.

“I am pleased to announce that PAHO is offering our member states a new opportunity to access COVID-19 vaccines,” she said. “The Revolving Fund is now receiving requests from countries in the region for COVID-19 vaccines for the last three months of 2021 and for calendar year 2022. So far, more than 20 countries have formally expressed interest and the number is growing by the day.

“The Revolving Fund is a mechanism for providing high quality vaccines at competitive prices countries can afford,” she said. “It also provides support with planning, cold chain development, syringes, and other supplies. This new initiative will make available tens of millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses beyond the 20 percent COVAX offers, and it will complement bilateral deals and other existing avenues for countries to access vaccines.

“It’s an initiative that will benefit every country in the region, but especially those that lack the resources and negotiating power to secure the doses necessary to protect their people. PAHO already monitors immunisation coverage closely, and we are now rolling out a new system that collects the vaccination needs of each country faster and more efficiently.”

She said increasing access to vaccines remains PAHO’s top priority – not for some countries, but for all countries.

“Perhaps most importantly, countries in the Americas have access to the PAHO Revolving Fund, which is an integral part of our technical cooperation package consolidating country vaccine demand from 41 member states and territories, to leverage more affordable pricing and ensure the availability of high-quality vaccines to reach every corner of our region,” Dr Etienne said.

“For decades, the Revolving Fund has been a catalyst of equity and solidarity and has been responsible for protecting generations of children across Latin America and the Caribbean from vaccine-preventable diseases. Thanks to these systems and expertise, we are uniquely positioned to deliver COVID-19 vaccines quickly, safely, and equitably.”

Dr Etienne said that over many years, the Caribbean has attained the highest coverage of routine vaccinations.

According to the Minnis administration, more than 47,000 people in the country have been fully vaccinated while more than 60,000 have received one dose of the vaccine.