Friday, April 16, 2021
THE road out of the COVID crisis was always going to be bumpy and right now it seems we’re being bounced all over the place.
In the last few days we’ve seen an announcement that our existing rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca is being paused while the vaccine committee reviews exactly where it is at.
PAHO meanwhile has warned it is going to be facing problems next month delivering vaccines to countries as there are now various problems in the supply chain.
On a daily basis we continue to see a moderately high number of new cases, especially in New Providence. Sadly there have been more deaths and the number who are being admitted to hospital is slowly creeping up.
Former Health Minister Dr Duane Sands said yesterday he believes the current position is “frightening” and if we continue on our current course we will be forced to reintroduce the hard-lockdowns we experienced last year.
If this wasn’t enough the Labour Director has now confirmed his department is looking into at least three cases where companies have told their employees that to continue working they must take the vaccine.
These three companies have certainly jumped the gun as for thousands here – assured by the Prime Minister that taking the vaccine was an entirely personal choice – their current position is they don’t want it.
Just look at the numbers who have taken the vaccine so far. On Sunday – the last time we were given an official number – it was 15,000. It’s likely through this week that figure has risen nearer to 20,000 and with inoculations beginning in Abaco yesterday and moving out to the Family Islands our existing supply is, probably, going to dry up very quickly.
Those who have received the first dose have been assured they’ll get the second vaccine which means, pretty soon, we’ll have used up our stock and just over 26,000 people will be vaccinated.
Health Minister Renward Wells confidently boasted last month that we’d achieve herd immunity – that means 80 percent of the public vaccinated – by early summer. At the time it seemed an incredible statement and looks more so today as the hard facts of a rapidly moving situation sink in.
It may be that in the months ahead many people will have to reassess where they stand on vaccination. The widespread “I’ll wait and see what happens” approach isn’t going to see us through in the long run.
Without vaccinations the virus will continue to reap its terrible harvest, slowing down in lockdowns, blooming when the controls are relaxed and running free.
The UK – after making blunder after blunder over many months in handling the crisis – has at least turned the corner through a massive vaccination rollout. In January it was running with 100,000 cases a day and several thousand deaths per week; today it is a few thousand cases and around 50 deaths.
For the UK vaccination appears to have worked, herd immunity according to some experts, is just a short step away.
If we are to achieve the same something is going to have to change in our attitude towards vaccination.
Companies unilaterally demanding staff be inoculated before being allowed into work is going to be a problem which will only get bigger.
Cruise lines returning here this summer have already given us a huge clue as what’s going to happen. They are promising passengers – who must be vaccinated – that the entire crew will also have been immunised.
How long before one of the big hotels – struggling to lure back the tourists who so loved coming here – decide they have no choice but to follow suit and offer guests a vaccinated staff?
Just imagine our Caribbean neighbours – our tourism competitors – go much harder on vaccination. If you were an American family picking a Caribbean holiday would you go to a “herd immunity” destination or come here?
It’s incredibly difficult, fraught with moral and legal challenges, but we’re in a new world and better get used to it.
Comments
ThisIsOurs says...
The real problem is this govt is 5th cousin to the whole truth. There messaging is always crafted so they've never done anything wrong, everything is going as planned and running smoothly. If they were straight up with the Bahamian public we wouldn't be here. Imagine for the 3rd time just 2 months ago, Hubert Minnis gave a national address to say COVID was gone forever.
That's the problem. Strangerz to the whole truth.
Posted 16 April 2021, 8:34 p.m. Suggest removal
DWW says...
Do you need some extra furl? I got some extra for you.
Posted 19 April 2021, 3:17 p.m. Suggest removal
The_Oracle says...
Our government has entrapped themselves in the global Political Push based on "science" to administer a set of vaccines that have been approved for "emergency use" (read zero liability) by companies with a zero success rate for any vaccine they have ever produced.
Various countries have suspended vaccine use for any number of Vaccine co-morbidities,
If a vaccine has a higher mortality rate than that of the illness it purports to counter, we have a problem.
As Always, with Government, it is a trust problem.
The Covid Vaccine Could become a real epoch in history, along the lines of Thalidomide.
Caveat emptor.
Posted 16 April 2021, 11:08 p.m. Suggest removal
DWW says...
Don't worry, they ran out of the tracking chips so you should be all set to get yours.
Posted 19 April 2021, 3:18 p.m. Suggest removal
Twocent says...
What science? The long term study results are years in the future. We are still waiting for the results of a study being done in a PA uni on the shedding of vaccine particles. The studies done so far on carcinogenesis don’t look good. And we barely understand SARS Cov 2 let alone its variants, the long term effects of the disease, and the completely new, never used before, mRNA vaccine technology. Science has shown us numerous diseases associated with monkey DNA virus vaccines, like Sim40. What science are we willing to put our trust in? Evidence based results conclusively showed that we became COVID free last year. There was a way. But it wasn’t “politically correct”.
Posted 24 April 2021, 9:58 p.m. Suggest removal
JokeyJack says...
If the common cold ever makes a return to our planet will governments ban Augmentin, Amoxycillin, and Nyquil and only allow the flu vaccine and the wearing of a flu mask over or under the covid mask? I ask because of how Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin have been banned all around the world. What about aspirin and Tylenol, should they be banned too? Is someone working on a headache vaccine? What about plaster casts for broken bones? Can we ban them? Broken leg? You need the bone calcium vaccine, right?
Driving into a gas station last week with a tire going flat, the young man wanted to put a rubber plug in it and reinflate it with an air pump. I was shocked he was still using such primitive methods and asked "Don't you have a flat tire vaccine?" He said he did not. I drove off and now just have to drive slow along the road, much like our slow economy which we have accepted.
It's incredibly difficult, fraught with flat tires and excessive gas consumption, but we’re in a new world and better get used to it.
Posted 17 April 2021, 12:40 a.m. Suggest removal
DWW says...
Can we appoint you to chief medical officer of the Bahamas? I hear the WHO is looking for armchair doctors to join the ranks of nefarious underpaid workaholics scheming to take over the world. you seem like the perfect candidate.
Posted 19 April 2021, 3:20 p.m. Suggest removal
mandela says...
How can any country have herd immunity? when they are now saying a third jab and possibly a jab every year after is needed, if this is in fact the case then we in the Bahamas are doomed.
Posted 17 April 2021, 9:48 a.m. Suggest removal
sheeprunner12 says...
Who will create the next pandemic .......... next year??????
Posted 17 April 2021, 3:08 p.m. Suggest removal
carltonr61 says...
https://www.debka.com/mivzak/as-covid-i…
Before our health Minister dictates and imposes world views as dictates he should first keep his big mouth shut. Then read. Before placing us under lockdown.
Posted 17 April 2021, 9:26 p.m. Suggest removal
DWW says...
WTF? I can't even... have you left your room in the last 12 months? Like do you even know what the actual sky looks like anymore? pure unadultered lunacy right here ^^^
Posted 19 April 2021, 3:23 p.m. Suggest removal
jus2cents says...
Why is corporate Bahamas so silent when it comes to promoting the vaccine?
Why don't we see or hear anything from local Banks or Insurance companies for example, don't you think they should be encouraging the citizens to do what is right for the advancement of our nation as well?
We can't leave the messaging up to the government entities they're reliably useless at promoting what is in the Best Interest of all and inspiring the collective good in our populace.
Posted 19 April 2021, 12:08 p.m. Suggest removal
DWW says...
Would you take financial investment advice from a theologian or medical doctor? Then why do you expect banks and insurance to tell people about medical advice? silly comment.
Posted 19 April 2021, 3:17 p.m. Suggest removal
ohdrap4 says...
do you want corporate bahamas to do what the sushi restaurant did?
the merchants will stop selling to the unvaccinated.
the insurers will refuse your premium if you do not vaccinate.
the banks will seize your moeny and close your account if you do not vaccinate.
lol lol lol
the flaw in your proposal is that vaccination MAY NOT BE IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE POPULATION NOR PLAY ANY PART IN THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE NATION,
People do not want to be preached to. They will count every blood clot and collect anecdotal evidence that their friends got vaccinated and caught covid.
Posted 19 April 2021, 10:15 p.m. Suggest removal
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