The Tribune

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

PAN American Health Organization officials have revealed that the deployment of COVAX issued vaccines was delayed in June due to a myriad of issues experienced by the group with Oxford-AstraZeneca production sites.

Dr Jarbas Barbosa, PAHO assistant director, made the announcement yesterday at the organisation’s weekly webinar designed to update the region on the fight against COVID-19.

“Seventeen countries in our region are expecting to complete the third wave of deployments (of vaccines) from COVAX,” he said.

“COVAX faced many very serious limitations during the month of June due to different problems.

The main problem is the government of India that is not allowing the Institute of India to export the AstraZeneca vaccines. We also had a problem with another AstraZeneca production site that had applied to receive the emergency use authorisation from WHO and it was delayed more than expected.

“So, June (had) a very serious problem with supply sites. Now there are some countries that PAHO is in negotiations with, vaccine producers, to know when the vaccines will be available to deploy in July. We expect to receive this information next week and we will share it.”

On Friday, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said the country is expected to receive more than 30,000 doses from COVAX before the end of the month.

Dr Barbosa also said PAHO is currently in negotiations to distribute donations from the United States government to countries in the Caribbean. He said the US donated some three million doses which will be issued through the COVAX facilitator.

Yesterday, PAHO’s director, Dr Carissa Etienne gave an update on COVID-19 inoculations throughout the region.

“One in four people in our region have been fully immunised and over 600 million doses have been administered in the Americas,” she said.

“However, over half of these doses have been applied in just one country, the United States. We must celebrate that a nation that has been so heavily impacted by the pandemic was able to turn the tide, but we can’t close our eyes to the stark inequities on vaccine access.

“Several other countries have done a remarkable job in vaccinating their people, Chile and Uruguay have around 50 percent of their population fully immunized and Canada has covered over 30 percent.”

While updating regional press partners on COVID-19, Dr Etienne diverted to pay homage to fallen Haitian President Jovenel Moise. President Moise was killed during an attack on his private residence early yesterday.

According to the country’s acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph, a group of unidentified individuals stormed President Moise’s home at around 1am yesterday and fatally wounded him. Mr Joseph described the assassination as a “heinous, inhumane and barbaric act”.

“I must acknowledge the event that unfolded this morning in Haiti leading to the untimely death of President Jovenel Moise,” Dr Etienne said. “PAHO wishes to extend its condolences to his family. We also want to express solidarity with the Haitian people in these uncertain times and reiterate our commitment to advance the country’s health and development.

“Our organisation has a long history of working in Haiti, hand-in-hand with local authorities, health professionals and communities through our local office in Port-au-Prince. We continue to stand with them now and will redouble our efforts.

“One of PAHO’s top priorities over the past few weeks has been to support Haiti to start vaccinations and control transmission of COVID-19. We will continue working toward this goal with global and local partners.”

She said she is hopeful that the imminent arrival of vaccines in that country can start to turn the tide of the pandemic and bring some relief to the Haitian people during these very difficult times.

This past week, the region saw 1.1 million new cases which represents a small decline in relation to the previous week. Dr Etienne said while mortality has also been reduced in this period, the region is still reporting over half of the deaths registered globally.

“This is a clear sign that the toll of the pandemic in the Americas continues to devastate families and communities, even as parts of our region are experiencing some relief,” she said.

“In North America, while the overall trends are declining, there are areas in which transmission is still rising, such as Baja California del Sur in Mexico and Yukon Province in Canada.

“In the Caribbean, Cuba is reporting the highest number of new cases per week since the beginning of the pandemic, and Trinidad and Tobago is facing increased mortality due to COVID. We continue to be concerned about Haiti. There has been a slight decline in new cases, but the situation is still very difficult, with episodes of violence challenging the response to the pandemic.”

Dr Etienne said the 24 million doses of COVAX deployed in the region have been quickly put to use, and countries are eager for the additional allocations to ship as soon as supplies are available.

She said regional countries know how to deploy vaccines and are ready, but they need more doses, and they need them now.

“That’s why PAHO has urged nations with enough vaccines to share them with countries in the Americas that are still struggling,” she said. “That call is starting to resonate.

“PAHO is leading the logistics for the delivery of the COVAX doses. And we’ve been working with the US government, the COVAX Facility and recipient countries to make sure all requirements are met, and vaccines can quickly and safely arrive at their destinations.

“We also applaud Mexico’s donations to several countries in Central America and Jamaica. Regional solidarity will help pave our way out of this pandemic. In fact, dose donations are helping COVAX substantially expand the availability of vaccines in the next round, with some 60 million doses coming from the United States and over 11 million from Japan, contributing to the expected allocation of some 143 million doses.”

• The country’s COVID-19 death toll has increased by one after a 61-year-old New Providence man died from the disease on July 5.

There are now 252 confirmed COVID-19 deaths.

Officials also said 53 new cases of the virus were recorded on July 5 while 23 new cases were recorded on July 6.

Of those 23 cases, 18 are in New Providence, two are in Grand Bahama, two are in Eleuthera and one is in Abaco.

In a report released yesterday, officials said two of the newly confirmed cases reported

for New Providence have been reallocated.

One newly confirmed case has been added to the confirmed cases for Grand Bahama and the other has been added to the confirmed cases for the island of Eleuthera, officials said.

The country now has 12,965 confirmed cases.

At last report, 52 people were in hospital with the disease.