WHEN Health Minister Renward Wells talked of the nation being in “a good place” if it reached 120,000 vaccinations last week, we were sceptical.
Indeed, in this column, we took a look at the likely numbers needed to reach herd immunity in The Bahamas – and they did not look the same as the numbers being talked of so enthusiastically by Mr Wells.
So the words of Mr Wells’ predecessor as minister, Dr Duane Sands, come as a welcome addition to the discussion.
Where Mr Wells looks to 120,000 vaccinations as a target, Dr Sands warns that we need at least “200,000 more people” – that’s more, not a total – to be fully vaccinated in order for the country to see the results.
Dr Sands said: “We have almost 400,000 people in (the) country… if we want to reap the benefits of vaccination, we’re going to need to get several hundred thousand more people fully vaccinated and I said several hundred thousand more, so 200,000 more fully vaccinated at least. So, we’re nowhere near the beneficial threshold for vaccinations.”
Mr Wells, for his part last week, explained how he came to the conclusion of needing to reach 120,000 vaccinations.
He said: “I would say if we could vaccinate 120,000 of our population we would be in good stead. That’s just my number. I’m not the health expert but just sitting down and talking to other health experts the thinking is if we can get probably around 120,000 people vaccinated, we would be in good stead as a nation.”
We would be very interested indeed for the minister to bring these health experts to a conference and allow them to explain to the Bahamian public how such a small percentage of the Bahamian people would lead to herd immunity.
We would be very interested indeed if the minister would identify the experts whose advice he is acting upon.
This should not be a secret matter – we’re not trying to fool the virus by keeping secrets from it. Let’s have an open discussion of where we need to be in order to gain the benefit of vaccinations.
At a time like this, the public needs to have confidence in the pronouncements of the Health Minister – and sadly Mr Wells has missed the target on more than one occasion. His estimates of when the vaccines would arrive were off, his estimate of achieving herd immunity by the start of the summer was never realistic – and his estimate on how many people need to be vaccinated also seems wayward.
There is one more estimate that we are waiting for too – when we can expect more doses of vaccine to be made available to the Bahamian people.
Predictions of how many people we need to be vaccinated don’t matter in the slightest if we cannot get more doses to meet that demand. And on that note, the government has been awfully quiet.
Tax pressure
One area where the government is not being quiet is in response to pressure to change the tax system.
There is a push by the G7 countries to introduce a global corporate tax at a minimum level of 15 percent. Yesterday, the Finance Ministry gave its response, a statement saying that The Bahamas asserts “its sovereign right to determine the tax structure best suited for the ongoing development of the country”.
That is right, of course. We need to govern according to our own particular preferences and needs.
One German representative from the G7 countries described the move as “bad news for tax havens” and clearly that is at the heart of the push. As a “no tax” jurisdiction, The Bahamas has long appealed to investors, and that could be at risk from this move, with multinationals with funds here facing the prospect of a 15 percent tax on money repatriated from here to their home country.
Ours is just one voice, however, and the G7 nations have a great deal of weight to throw around. We need to pay close attention to this – the consequences for non-participation, and the costs we would bear both in and out of any deal. This is a time to band with other nations to form a stronger response. One voice will not be enough in this debate.
More like this story
- EDITORIAL: Are 120,000 vaccinations really enough?
- WELLS’ NEW MAGIC NUMBER - 120,000: Minister says hitting this vaccination total puts us in ‘good place’
- Which U.S. vaccines will we be sent?
- PLAIN TALKER: Sands spells it out - another 200,000 must take vaccine
- Now Wells hopes herd immunity by August
Comments
proudloudandfnm 3 years, 5 months ago
The anti vaccination dynamic in our country is getting worse not better. As long as people get their information from idiotic facebook posts we will never see herd immunity and our tourism product will stay depressed. At this rate we'll be under curfew for years....
Too much idiocy, not enough common sense. The posts I see are ridiculous. It boggles the mind how anyone can take them seriously...
quietone 3 years, 5 months ago
https://www.naturalnews.com/2021-06-07-…
carltonr61 3 years, 5 months ago
The Bahamas has no scientists. But our political leaders and sheep cattle loyalists that follow their advice need to get their reading eyes out of that dark hairy spot and open their eyes and minds to the 100%informatiin out there that our leaders politically cherrypick information to control the masses in dumb dark ignorance and control. G7 dicdated our Covid response and economic destruction in reset. New normal.
carltonr61 3 years, 5 months ago
The WHO, CDC, G7 political goals during Covid has been contradictory. POTUS, Russia and independent minded EU states are are vaccine ideological war. Our Covid policy is all but sovereign. We follow UK and and Australia. Just read world news and yes we could expect to hear Authority blindly scream the sky is falling the sky is falling lock down. We are spinless conch.
carltonr61 3 years, 5 months ago
Fact verses fear. 99.99 percent of person who become Covid cases survive.00.0005% of our population have died with 99.995% of all deaths due to diabetes, heart and lung or hypertension high blood pressure. Almost 100%of Bahamians as a fact has survived and will survive Covid. Fear not science is to take the vaccine.
carltonr61 3 years, 5 months ago
Lockdowns are so antiquated and barbaric and has failed all last year. Vaccines are not the cure as vaccinated get Covid. Vaccination is a money, political, fear gangster ploy. When their science fail explanation just lockdown show them minnis is boss.
JokeyJack 3 years, 5 months ago
"There is one more estimate that we are waiting for too – when we can expect more doses of vaccine to be made available to the Bahamian people."
I can picture you in prison writing letters to the editor from your jail cell asking when oh when is government going to supply the guards with new batons?
carltonr61 3 years, 5 months ago
https://www.rt.com/news/525964-malta-ac…
How lockdown and restrictions are more politics than science to achieve another outcome through blackmail of economies and, civilizations Haiti and populations.
carltonr61 3 years, 5 months ago
Even if we become 100% vaccinated the G7 will demand financial blood more corporate tax, change to banking laws blacklist from us or no tourists.
JokeyJack 3 years, 5 months ago
Maybe we need a complete 100% lockdown for 6 months. Nobody outside for any reason except police, ambulance, and defense force officers to deliver food and medicine. Cable and Internet turned off. Everyone supplied with a tiny AM radio to receive government instructions. Persons caught outside unauthorized are taken to Ragged Island prison island.
6 months with PM able to extend indefinitely. Yes. Sounds good.
Only emergency flights and boats. Others are taken to Ragged Island. Anyone testing positive for Covid or ANY disease, taken to Ragged Island. Yep. A great idea. Im patting myself on the back with one hand while typing with the other hand :-)
John 3 years, 5 months ago
Last year when I posted that scientists went to Alaska in search of live strains of the Spanish flu, persons said it was crazy conspiracy. But around the same time of that excursion, the first one, Dr. Anthony Fauci admits that research was ongoing at the lab in Wuhan, China. He claims he was only attempting to develop vaccines for the corona virus. Some say otherwise. But at some point it was determined that this research became too dangerous and all research work was ordered to cease. But in 2017, Dr Fauci was able through some loophole, to bypass the law banning research into the development of corona viruses at Wuhan. And then there was another excursion to Alaska to collect samples of the Spanish flu from the frozen bodies of persons known to have died from the virus. And, apparently work continued at the lab in Wuhan, funded in part by Dr Fauci, who had seven billion dollars in US taxpayer money to do research. Several billions of this money made its way to the lab at Wuhan. Then in the fall of 2019 something happened at Wuhan. Something went awry. And five members of the research team got seriously ill and had to be hospitalized. What went wrong? We’re these people accidentally exposed to the, now known as Covid-19 virus and became ill. Or did they believe they had developed an effective vaccine and injected themselves and then exposed themselves to the virus? Did the vaccine show promise and offer them protection, but only for a while before they became ill? Then the virus spread to the surrounding area, where there was an open market that shoppers frequented for bats for consumption. Dr. Fauci seized the opportunity and denied there was any leak of any virus from the lab to which he was connected, financially and otherwise. Instead he sold the world the theory that Covid-19 jumped from bats to humans because Chinese people were consuming bat meat. And great pains were made to silence persons who continue to talk about a lab leak. And there was no evidence to support the idea that Covid-19 jumped from bats to humans. Thousands of animals were tested. NONE tested positive for Covid-19. So today millions of people have died, millions more infected. Some with permanent medical conditions. Businesses and nations have suffered economically and the pandemic has ripped beds and pillows from beneath people. Where to now?
carltonr61 3 years, 5 months ago
We still can see other actors at play here called the reset New normal Davos orders. Digital currency, sand dollar, coconut water seller needing liscence, government not accepting Bahamas legal tender, may be soon the yard weeder will need licence also.
quietone 3 years, 5 months ago
https://www.naturalnews.com/
IF WE WOULD READ WHAT MOST OF THE EXPERTS SAY IN THESE ARTICLES, YOU WOULD NEVER TAKE THESE VACCINES...
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