Message Board Archives

A recent study by the International Chamber of Commerce concluded the global economy could suffer losses exceeding $9 trillion if poorer countries – which produce most of the goods we consume – are shut out from vaccine rollouts. This, in effect, debunks the notion that sharing vaccines with poor countries is merely a form of charity.

This is about justice and fairness. It is not a case of pitting one set of vulnerable people against another – it is about acknowledging that fairness must come into play as we are all equally vulnerable. We should be vaccinating vulnerable groups and frontline workers first across all countries

A “me-first approach” to COVID-19 vaccines on the part of some countries and manufacturers is putting equitable access to these lifesaving treatments at risk, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Monday

For instance, Canada, with a population of 38 million, has reserved 414 million doses.

So after reports of large clusters and uncontrollable crowds of people hoping to get their first jab of the Sinopharm vaccine on the first day, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh quickly altered the system, using the first letters of recipients' surnames.

On Thursday only those with surnames starting with A-E were accommodated.One pensioner, who only wanted to be named Nigel, told Newsday at the St Joseph health centre,
“I was here since 5.20 am. You know how hard it is to hire a car from Maracas/St Joseph to come here just to be turned away?“I am 70.
At the Barataria Health Centre, Newsday was told all 50 vaccines were administered before 8 am and the only people there were people waiting for clinic and other appointments.

THE EDITOR: It would be remiss of me as a social commentator if I didn’t react to the AG’s promise of the best Carnival next year. It is with some level of indignation that I do so, as should the majority of civil society at a time when loads of people are dying daily and many are going hungry in the face of rampant unemployment and restricted liberties.

How ignorant and stupid can the AG think the people of TT are? Carnival is irrelevant in these times of the unknown quantity where the pandemic is concerned. When the very survival of millions are in question. The promise of the best Carnival is nothing more than a shallow ploy to keep the masses distracted from the realities. They want us to celebrate our own demise and oppression.

The Government might really feel a need to distract the people from reality, because of the bleak future that awaits us. In the face of the many negatives such as the failure of industry and commerce, rampant unemployment and the pandemic, together with some questionable government policies, Carnival cannot help us. The final nail was the killing off of our cottage industries and vending for the poor man. Even agriculture has been put in danger, with no subsidising and significant praedial larceny.

THE CHAOTIC, distressing scenes all over the country at health facilities this week were a mixed omen about the State’s covid19 vaccination programme. It was both good news and bad.
On the one hand, vaccine demand is healthy.On the other hand, the Ministry of Health’s administration is not.

What was supposed to be an exercise to protect people degenerated into a spate of potential superspreader events. Thousands of elderly people (and misguided others) had to line up for hours. Many braved rain and were still turned away.Officials should have foreseen the numbers. The recent spike in deaths and the calling of a state of emergency have clearly fomented a fervent desire on the part of the population to get this entire ordeal behind us through getting the jab.

The problems continued even when the pool was streamlined alphabetically on Thursday: there were fewer people, but fewer vaccines still.
After apologising on Wednesday for the fiasco, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said there were lessons to be learned. Clearly nothing was learned between Wednesday and Thursday.

Ninety-four-year-old Lionel Duncan arrived at the La Romaine Health Facility at 6 a.m. yesterday, eager to receive the first dose of his Covid-19 vaccine.He had followed the advice of Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh that people over the age of 60, with surnames starting from A to E, would be facilitated at vaccine centres across the country.

The elderly man was assisted by his daughter, 51-year-old Caren Duncan.

“We arrived at 6 a.m. and my father was given number 51. Initially, we were told that the first 100 people will be facilitated this morning. My father is unable to stand for very long, so I asked the security guard if any provisions were made for people like him. I was told that no one was allowed inside. So my father had to sit on the pavement, in the sun. I stood at his side,” the daughter said.

But after waiting for two and a half hours, Duncan said her father and hundreds more behind him were informed that the La Romaine Health Centre would vaccinate the first 40 persons only.“We were told that everyone else had to leave. I was appalled that my elderly father would have to go through something like that. We went there to get the vaccine, in an effort to save his life, and they treat you like that. It is frustrating,” she said.

Having new COVID-19 vaccines will mean little if people around the world are unable to get vaccinated in a timely manner. Vaccines have to be affordable and available to all countries, and governments must have the administrative and political capacities to deliver them locally to ensure an effective global immunisation strategy against COVID-19, say the authors of a Health Policy piece published in The Lancet

"Securing large quantities of vaccines in this way amounts to countries placing widespread vaccination of their own populations ahead of the vaccination of health-care workers and high-risk populations in poorer countries", says co-author Professor Mark Jit from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK. "Based on known deals, governments in high-income countries representing 16% of the global population have secured at least 70% of doses available in 2021 from five leading vaccine candidates." [1