The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

DESPITE a COVID-19 positivity rate of two percent signalling the country is headed in the right direction, caution cannot be thrown to the wind, Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville said yesterday.

During his contribution to the mid-year budget debate, the minister said a decrease in new infections and hospitalisations had earned The Bahamas a lowered travel advisory rating from Level 4 - “very high” to Level 3 - “high” by the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

 The new rating was announced by his ministry last week.

 However, there continued to be vaccine hesitancy, the Tall Pines MP said.

 Government launched the vaccination campaign on March 14, 2021 with the first doses administered.

 “Since that time, 332,549 doses have been administered in The Bahamas which includes first, second, extended primary series and booster doses,” Dr Darville said. “While our country’s vaccination rate has been increasing, we have noticed that as COVID-19 infection rates decline in (the) country, the rate of uptake of vaccinations has also slowed.

 “As of March 9, 40 percent of our total population is fully vaccinated. But when we compare vaccinated persons to the population eligible to be vaccinated, our percentage increases to just over 50 percent.

 “So, we have a way to go to reach the levels achieved in the USA and by a few of our Caribbean neighbours. When we examine vaccination rates in our country by age bands, we see the lowest vaccination rates among persons under the age of 30 and this is not surprising since at the start of the pandemic this group was thought to be less vulnerable to infection.”

 Regarding the CDC’s Level 3 rating of The Bahamas, he said: “The Centres for Disease Control in the United States has also responded positively to our improved COVID-19 experience by moving our Travel Risk Advisory Rating from Level 4 which is ‘very high’ to Level 3 which is simply ‘high’.

 “As these trends are sustained over the next month, we believe we will qualify for a further decrease in our risk rating down to a Level 2. As we have seen from past experience, these reductions in our rating have a positive impact on our tourism sector and by extension the wider economy.

 “We all must remember, we are in this together and with each of us doing our part we can together impact our tourism sector, our economy and by extension our own pocketbooks in a very positive way.”

 Dr Darville further announced Cabinet’s approval of hiring 512 healthcare professionals.

 “During my visits at our hospitals and clinics throughout the country it was evident that the human resource component of healthcare is in a critical state. My ministry is moving to correct these deficiencies and I am pleased to announce that the Cabinet of The Bahamas approved the hiring of some 512 healthcare professionals to be deployed throughout The Bahamas to fill many of the gaps that currently exist.

 “With this increase in human resources we are excited about where we are heading in the delivery of primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare services across the country. Some of these gaps have been filled in the short-term by health care professionals from the Republic of Cuba,” he said.