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...]
Aruba Waives Testing for Certain Vaccinated U.S. Travelers
Aruba has updated its entry protocols, with new rules that waive pre-testing requirements for certain fully vaccinated American travelers. But it’s not quite that simple. Crucially, the island is only waiving testing for U.S. residents who have been fully vaccinated and have a SMART Health Card vaccine record. For now, that means a relatively small number of U.S. … [Read more...]
COVID-19 vaccines for children younger than 12 years: are we ready?
On May 5, 2021, Canada became the first country in the world to approve COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in children aged 12–15 years; later the same month, the US Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency also gave the green light to the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for adolescents. Children younger than 12 years are the next population who need a safe and efficient … [Read more...]
Cayman marks a year of no COVID community transmission
As the world continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic for a second year, the Cayman Islands is marking a year without local transmission of the disease. The country, amongst only a handful worldwide, will achieve this milestone on Sunday, July 11. After the first case was reported in the Cayman Islands on March 13 2020, the Cayman Islands has maintained its success in battling … [Read more...]
Caribbean Tourism: Is the lure of the beach enough?
Sometime in the next 12 months, when the pandemic is fully brought under control in North America and Europe, visitors will return to the Caribbean in significant numbers. Once that begins to happen, governments, conscious of tourism’s ability to drive rapid GDP growth, will encourage the fastest possible restoration of pre-pandemic arrival levels. This is understandable, but begs two … [Read more...]