Herd immunity for general elections in St Lucia

Dear Sir

The prime minister of Saint Lucia has once again erroneously formulated in his trivial dome that ‘herd immunity’ is a factor to hold general elections.

‘Herd immunity‘, also known as ‘population immunity’, is the indirect protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through previous infection.

The five-year term of the government expires on July 12. The constitution allows for 90 days bonus. That would mean October 12. His leading advisor has expressed the preference for general elections is mid-October. This coincides with October 16, 2021, the scheduled end to the extended State of Emergency (SOE).

The prime minister has previously uttered that the SOE currently scheduled for October 16, will not hinder the nation’s upcoming general election. He also referenced Trinidad and Tobago, and St Kitts and Nevis holding general elections during a pandemic. It is interesting, he did not mention, Jamaica and the US. Countries that his administration seems to emulate.

So what has triggered the prime minister to come up with a sheepish mentality to ‘herd immunity’ as a pretext to call general elections?

The prime minister is well informed via his political advisors that a general election defect is stirring him in the face. The strategy is to extend the general elections as much as possible, to coincide with election projects and to buy time at mind-bending and the distribution of selected stimulus (care baskets, plywood, lumber, empowerment card, chin-chin, the extension of contracts, the award of contracts, building roads at questionable cost factors, and other dubious schemes, etc.,) and other well-known gifts that now coincides with general elections.

It is now common knowledge that the prime minister dubious schemes and the competence to lose talk is in accordance with concepts and the ideology of old fashion stodginess.

Considering the analysis of Guy Joseph extra-terrestrial manifestation winning 16 seats and ‘Josie Ghost’ why would the prime minister fiddle with herd immunity to postpone the elections?

Saint Lucia is classified as a least developed country. A list of developing countries that, according to the United Nations, exhibit the lowest indicators of socioeconomic development, with the lowest Human Development Index ratings of all countries in the world.

Saint Lucia is rank as the worst country in the OECS in almost every category. Saint Lucia has no money, to buy COVID-19 vaccines. The country relies on donated COVID-19 vaccines to inoculate the population. Yet, $559 million was borrowed in the name of COVID and only 7.2 million was spent on COVID-19 social programmes.

As of May 18, 2021, a total of 26,905 individuals have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 17, 301 individuals have received the second dose.

The medical, political advisor and strategist know that the best option to achieve ‘herd immunity’ is approximately 70 percent of the population. Given the current vaccine hesitancy, this would take almost 10 months, if not longer to achieve. Resistance to vaccination is alive and well. Public health information and so-called people of influence have not done sufficient groundwork on how and why to get vaccinated. Access to health care and infrastructure is another hindrance.

Recently, callers to popular radio relayed the unavailability of metformin, penicillin and popular hypertension medication at government-operated pharmacies.

CARPHA executive director, Dr Joy St John says: “The Caribbean region has the highest prevalence of raised blood pressure in the Americas ranging from a high of 27.1 percent to a low of 20.9 percent”. She adds, “It is a cause for concern and action when in all Caribbean countries, hypertension is above the regional average for the Americas”.

Chief medical officer Dr Sharon Belmar George, on Tuesday, warned: “We see the upward trend toward a fourth wave in the country. And our actions at this point are really going to determine how we continue to manage.”

The economy, tourism and travel will not resume to a semblance of normalcy to jolt economic buoyance, while scepticism and reluctance are high points of achievement for the government. The election is one day, not sure who the prime minister is protecting. To delay the general elections will serve to prolong suffering, death and debt.

It calls to query, why Saint Lucia dissociated with Nicholas Maduro, only to graduate a power-hungry tin-pot dictator, sucking the country for time, the completion of projects and to generate wealth for the clan of friends, family and foreigners (FFF).

Monica Fevrier