Officials from the World Health Organization on Wednesday urged countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to limit administering booster shots and to hold off on vaccinating children, allocating scant doses to the most vulnerable. “In some countries, we have seen vaccine doses reaching all levels of the population before a high percentage of vulnerable” residents has been fully immunized, … [Read more...]
Silver linings: Risk reduction center stage as Caribbean recovers
Cruise ships are steaming back to Caribbean ports, airlines are ramping up flights and the vaccine roll-out is underway but it could still be several years before countries recuperate from the pandemic that has rocked the region, say experts. Despite the deep scars left by the crisis, countries now have a fresh focus on health, resilience and regionalism plus a chance to fully incorporate … [Read more...]
PAHO concerned about low vax rate in Caribbean & Latin America
THE Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is reporting that only a quarter of citizens in the Caribbean and Latin America are fully immunised, and that for many access to vaccines is still months away. “While every country in our region has begun administering COVID-19 vaccines, immunisations are following the fault lines of inequality that have long divided our region,” PAHO director Dr … [Read more...]
Vaccinated and unvaccinated travelers are going to different sets of Caribbean islands
Adina Eigen took her first trip to the British Virgin Islands in December 2020. Around that time, it had one of the world’s lowest Covid rates among islands that had reopened. The 42-year-old mother of four from Sands Point, New York, has since returned twice, checking infection rates — and vaccination statistics — before her trips. “The staff at Oil Nut Bay is entirely … [Read more...]
Virus slams Cuba as it races to roll out vaccines
The COVID-19 pandemic is slamming Cuba like never before, even as the country races to roll out its home-grown vaccines – the only locally-developed shots being widely used in Latin America. The island had seen far fewer infections that most other Latin American nations over the first year or so of the disease, imposing strict quarantines, isolating the infected and shutting down its tourism … [Read more...]