PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – On Wednesday, 20 July 2022, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) hosted a ceremony to highlight its most recent alliance with two international agencies. Through a partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), CARPHA will develop and implement a sub-regional COVID-19 vaccination campaign to sensitise parents, caregivers, and adolescents about the benefits of immunization.
As COVID-19 restrictions ease throughout the region, the communications campaign will serve as a timely reminder to improve vaccination coverage within the countries of the Caribbean region. The funds, totalling US$70 000, will assist in the implementation of activities aimed at accelerating COVID-19 vaccine uptake. The US$70,000 donation is part of the US$1.5 million COVID-19 assistance announced by USAID in March this year for countries in the Eastern Caribbean region including Trinidad and Tobago, The Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana, and Suriname.
The ceremony which took place on 20 July 2022, at the start of the CARPHA Technical Advisory Committee meeting was chaired by Dr Mark Sami director of corporate services at CARPHA.
In attendance were Dr Joy St. John, executive director of CARPHA, Shante Moore Chargé d’Affaires of the embassy of the United States of America, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Alana Shury, COVID-19 coordinator, USAID/Eastern and Southern Caribbean, Jemmimah Wilson, social policy officer, UNICEF office for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, and members of the technical advisory committee.
In her opening remarks, CARPHA’s executive director Dr Joy St John stated: “Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Caribbean was a worldwide leader in vaccination achievements, eliminating polio and achieving vaccination coverage rates over 90-95 percent for routine childhood vaccinations. Access to safe, reliable vaccines has proven to be the most effective way of preventing severe illness and death, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Alongside the public health safety measures, employed by all of society, vaccination has helped the region survive this pandemic.”
Dr St John further stated: “The wave of vaccine hesitancy which we watched sweep over North America and Europe over the last decade also arrived on the shores of the Caribbean as the number of cases of COVID-19 increased. Just over two years into the pandemic, data is already revealing some erosion of hard-fought gains made over the years in routine vaccination programmes across the Member States.”
In closing Dr St John assured the partners that CARPHA will work with the beneficiary countries to help them achieve the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommended target of 70 percent full immunisation rate against COVID-19.
Shante Moore, Chargé d’Affaires at US Embassy Port of Spain underscored: “ The aim of this collaboration is to accelerate COVID-19 vaccine uptake among adults and children in the Caribbean. This is where CARPHA, as the leading health authority and coordinator in the Caribbean region, is uniquely positioned to provide guidance and assistance to Caribbean countries on methods and messaging to increase vaccination coverage.”
He added: “As the saying goes, ‘Local problems need local solutions,’ and that defines the spirit of this collaboration. With this funding, CARPHA will develop and implement a sub-regional campaign to improve vaccination coverage. The United States government is pleased to be associated with this initiative and I take this opportunity to restate our commitment to assist the people of Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean at large to overcome COVID-19.”
Jemmimah Wilson, social policy officer, UNICEF, Office for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean. “This ambitious partnership between CARPHA, UNICEF and USAID will build on and cement an already fruitful collaboration aimed at mitigating the ravages of COVID-19.We are all aware that vaccination is one of the ways for us to put this devastating pandemic in our rear-view mirror, reclaim our everyday lives and look to the future with confidence and optimism. Progress has most certainly been made to date, but we are far from where we need to be. In four of the countries and territories in the Eastern Caribbean, for example, the percentage of those fully vaccinated ranges from just 28 percent to 38 percent. This has to change, and UNICEF is committed to working with CARPHA and USAID to redouble our efforts to ensure that all Caribbean children grow up healthy without COVID-19.”
In 2021, CARPHA received an ultra-cold freezer from the United States Embassy in Port of Spain, which is part of a donation which includes laboratory supplies, laboratory coats, and scrubs.
