Last Updated on July 17, 2021 4:37 pm by Editor
At 5.00 PM on Sunday, 11 July the Ministry of Health and Wellness in the Barbados government held a press conference to update Barbadians on the covid-19 situation in the country. Minister of Health and Wellness, Colonel Jeffrey Bostic and Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Kenneth George, made presentations.
During the briefing, it was intimated that they were 40 new cases, representing a significant spike in numbers from Previous periods. The majority of the cases were recorded in a cluster centered around a Bridgetown based church.
Return to Restrictions
In conveying these and other facts, the Minister announced that there would be a two week return to an 11.00 PM to 5.00 AM curfew starting Tuesday 13 July. The curfew also put a limit on the number of people allowed at church services, funerals, weddings and travel on public transportation.
As expected, the announcements have been met with expressions of annoyance and sighs of resignation in some quarters although Barbadians have been generally compliant with covid-19 restrictions.
An uptick in cases was to be expected as the government opens the country for local and international business after many months of hard lockdowns. This fact has been underscored by Executive Director of the WHO, Dr. Mike Ryan in a general update on July 07 .
At Issue
Despite the spike in cases reported , the rate of infection in Barbados is still well below the target rate of 5%. As reported in the 5.00 PM Sunday briefing, the current overall rate in Barbados is about 1.4 percent. The reader should note that the rate of infection means the number of people who have tested positive as a percentage of those tested and NOT as a percentage of the entire population as some might think.
Some international experts have suggested that this measurement of the rate of infection is inadequate. As we understand it, getting an accurate measure of the rate is essentially a catch 22 matter. Barbados Uncensored will be providing further insights into this issue in the days to come.
One of the issues that keeps raising its head, both here and abroad, is whether it makes sense to restrict the freedom of unaffected people who are following the recommended protocols, such as mask-wearing, rather than double down on restricting those who have tested positive. It is a highly charged matter which will continue to provoke discussion as the personal liberty to which people have become accustomed comes under increasing attack.
The uptick in cases also raises again the issue of vaccine hesitancy and mandatory vaccinations. These two are intimately connected and are in a state of flux. Here is our quick take on these issues.
Mandatory Vaccinations
In her May 31 briefing, even as the Barbados government began to acquire vaccines for the country, PM Mia Mottley indicated that vaccinations would not be mandatory.
However, earlier in February this year, attorney-at-law and president of the DLP, Verla DePeiza cautioned that, while there is no existing law to support mandatory vaccination, the law could be amended to facilitate it in the interest of the “public good”.
Writing in the Trinidad Daily Express on 14 June 2021, columnist Rose-Marie Belle Antoine supported the view that Caribbean governments can make vaccines mandatory.
Citing section 3(1)(g) of the Grenada Constitution, s. 13 (1) g) of the Barbados Constitution and s.3 of the Saint Lucia Constitution, she suggested that even “personal liberty” can be made “subject to the state [sic] taking measures to prevent the spread of infectious or contagious disease.”
To further complicate matters, several weeks ago, a local business signaled that it would be offering its staff a financial reward to take the vaccination. A quick sweep across the Internet shows that there is some agreement that businesses can in fact make vaccination of its staff mandatory.
It appears that the Barbados authorities still seem to prefer moral suasion (persuasion) rather than regulation to achieve the desired uptake of vaccines. But how long this posture can be maintained is left to be seen, given the rise in so-called “vaccine passports” across the world. In the meantime, Barbadians need to remain vigilant about their rights while being considerate of the well-being of others and the entire society.
Vaccine Hesitancy
Despite the fact that Barbadians and most countries of the world have had vaccination regimes for a range of diseases such as polio, malaria and even the common cold for decades, a significant segment of the population in Barbados and other countries in the so-called developed world, have expressed reluctance to take the vaccines on offer from established pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Astra Zeneca and Johnson and Johnson.
This phenomenon, dubbed vaccine hesitancy, has posed many hair-pulling moments for governments of countries of all sizes and all states of development. Add to this the issues of side effects, effectiveness rates, under production and distribution logistics for the vaccines and we have a right royal mess across the globe.
In fairness to the masses of people here and across the world, it must be acknowledged, that despite the history of vaccinations, this covid-19 is not your regular pandemic. The disease, which is now known to have started in a place called Wuhan in China, is one masked (no pun intended!) in conspiracy, controversy and the machinations of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), the totalitarian government that has been ruling China for 100 years. The hesitancy of the people towards vaccination is, therefore, easily understood.
In a sort of perverse twist, this same CCP government, which a growing number of countries is now calling out for the spread of the virus and the destruction left in its wake, has just donated doses of a vaccine manufactured in China to the Barbados government. While this may seem to be a very generous act to the “underinformed” onlooker, those who are closely following the deeds of the CCP in China and across the rest of the world, know that this is just part of a deliberate strategy to position itself as the saviour of the world with respect to the damage caused by the corona virus.
The Chinese vaccine, known as Sinopharm, went on offer to Barbadians on Tuesday 13 July. Given the increasing knowledge of the shenanigans of the CCP here and the generally perceived low quality of things made in China it will be more than interesting to see what is the uptake of this vaccine in the weeks to come.
In the meantime, we encourage Barbadians not to take unnecessary risks and to stay as safe as possible.
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