Vaccine shortage in Caribbean worries 'Governments' as immunization halts

Caribbean: The Caribbean consists of many countries with smaller economies; the region is currently relying on vaccine support from WHO, PAHO and even big countries like India and China.

Initially, during the vaccination campaign, people stayed away, not trusting the vaccine. Still, by the time governments successfully managed to pursue people to take vaccine jab and attain herd immunity, they are now suffering a significant crisis of vaccine shortage as the supplies under the governments' possession have finished.

As more and more people are coming up to take the vaccine, it is embarrassing for the government to provide an ample supply, and people have started going back with empty hands. The complication does not look to resolved any sooner as major vaccine providers have backed off due to a steep incline in COVID-19 cases. In a tragic revolve, the government of India, a world leader in vaccine manufacturing, decided to halt vaccine export for more than two months as COVID-19 cases in the country recorded a historic upsurge. In recent 24 hours, India recorded over 62,000 new positive cases in the country. According to Indian media reports, the government has decided that it will not be expanding the export of vaccines.

“All the pending orders will get delivered, but new inquiries will not be accepted for several months.”

There is a global coronavirus vaccine shortage; even the World Health Organization has raised concerns about massive immunization gaps in impoverished countries. World Health Organizations' Covaxine programme co-hosted with the GAVI vaccine alliance immediately requires 10 million doses to vaccinate health workers and the elderly as a stop-gap measure. The questions are how these small Island nations in the Caribbean will run their vaccine drives, which are nothing but standing on pillars of support from their friendly countries. Perhaps, these countries could await vaccine from Cuba. "Soberana 2," which is presently under phase III trials and might take months or even years to facilitate the full supply of doses to other countries.

The standard daily rate of doses given is 4.68 million. Estimates by the Bloomberg Covid Vaccine tracker insinuates that it will take around 6-7 years to cover 75 percent of the global population with a two-dose vaccine at the current rate. At this speed, it will take years to reach international immunity from the virus. However, the present global insufficiency of doses could make the situation much more complicated than it seems.

Under its vaccine sharing initiative, 'Vaccine Maitri Initiative' and other commercial supplies India supplied over 58 million of Oxford-Astrazenenca's Covishield vaccines. Notably, India has had previously donated supplies of 25,000 vaccines to St Lucia, 20,000 to St Kitts and Nevis, 40,000 to St Vincent and the Grenadines, 40,000 to Antigua and Barbuda, 100,000 to Barbados and 50,000 to Suriname. It will be a testing period for the governments of the Caribbean region to display the efficiency of bilateral relations to procure the vaccines, fulfilling the need to take their country back on track by immunizing a higher number of the population.