By Caribbean News Global contributor
CASTRIES, St Lucia – Clear eye are many, except for the government of Saint Lucia, the island remains a pandemic tourism haven cultivating new distinction as the quarantine island of the Caribbean.
Saint Lucia’s major tourism markets have introduced pre-departure and entry COVID-19 negative results for all air travellers, thus by default, creating a niche market in Saint Lucia serving as a quarantine island.
While contemplating COVID-19 measures last year the prime minister suggested the use of Rat-Island as a quarantine facility, he may have got his wish, with the designation as the quarantine island of the Caribbean.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has Saint Lucia listed at Level 3: COVID-19 High. Arrivals from the USA and UK continues with no second testing, while Europe and North America are experiencing record COVID-19 cases, hospitals are overwhelmed, and a new COVID-19 Variant.
“On Saturday, January 9, 2021, the ministry of health and wellness (MOH) received confirmation of 43 new cases of COVID-19. This brings the total number of cases diagnosed in the country to 438. The MOH also reported a total of five recoveries January 9, 2021. This brings the total number of active cases presently in the country to 119,” MOH.
Last week the ministry of education issued ‘back to school’ instructions amidst a surge in COVID-19 cases, notwithstanding health authorities struggle to contain a surge in COVID-19 cases, as reported by the MOH.
A commentor on social media said: “Saint Lucia government needs to be more strategic. With these positive cases being dispersed over the country how could you possibly think that reopening school to implement face to face learning is the right strategy? Why not focus on deploying an effective online learning platform, reopening school will only increase the spread.”
Previously, the usefulness of Dr Gale T. C. Rigobert, queried: “What benefit is there in a laptop”? Certainly, COVID-19 has made a wash of that statement, in the light of “physical distancing” and “e-learning”.
The government of Saint Lucia recently introduced COVID-19 street wardens, locally describe as suckers to the government, at the ready to rat-out their fellow men/women struggling to stave-off the deprivation of ‘burning eyes and hungry bellies’.
However, the discussion and readiness of #Vaccines4All by the end of 2021 is a fundamental matter, the government ought to prioritize.
John Peters in a Facebook post: Are we ready for mass vaccination? said in part:
“It is clear that the rich countries have bought out all the vaccines produced by Moderna, Pfizer and AstraZeneca. It is highly unlikely that the Moderna and Pfizer will be used in Saint Lucia because of the storage issues and cost, and the demand for AstraZeneca because of its lower cost and easier storage temperatures will be so high that we will again be left out.
“Whether we like it or not, China may be the source that we in the Caribbean will have to look towards for vaccines. The trials for CoronaVac which is produced by Sinovac Biotech is showing 78 percent efficacy and over 300 million doses have already been produced. China’s pursuit of health diplomacy will take centre stage in the Caribbean in 2021.
“Within the local context, I would suggest that the many Cuban trained nurses who were not employed by the ministry of health on their return can be brought in for this special mass vaccination project. We can also begin to engage the retired nurses who can also participate in this exercise. The data bank of the electoral office and statistics department can be used to begin the mapping of the vulnerable groups where the first set of vaccinations should take place. We could begin to do some trial runs to see if the systems developed are functional.
“We still have a very young population so herd immunity may be achieved at a lower percentage of inoculation. We must start the planning process now, starting with an education drive to remove the myths of vaccination, a secondary consequence of Trumpism.”
In addition to Peter’s proposition, it is notable that Venezuela is already taking part in the third phase of the Russian vaccine clinical trial, signed a contract with Russia to begin mass vaccination of its citizens with the Sputnik V vaccine – while Cuban scientists show confidence in their COVID-19 vaccines candidates: Soberana 01, Soberana 02, Abadala and Mambisa.
