Why Caribbean have lower numbers of vaccination despite bulk doses?

The Caribbean region had always been the last in acquiring vaccines of any disease. Even when COVID-19 started to spread in the early months of 2020,

Saturday, 4th September 2021

Mexico City, Mexico.- In the photos taken on March 12, 2021, it shows a vaccination center against the coronavirus. Hugo LÛpez-Gatell RamÌrez, undersecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion, reported that the country broke the record number of vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus applied in a single day. ?Yesterday we achieved a record number of vaccinations in one day. 360,607 doses of vaccines ".

The Caribbean region had always been the last in acquiring vaccines of any disease. Even when COVID-19 started to spread in the early months of 2020, the countries were worried about having access to the vaccine and basic medical supplies as international travel was shut for an indefinite period. But, the scenario this time is very different. Immediately after the coronavirus vaccines were made available, the countries in the region received COVID-19 vaccine donations from all over the world. Despite having possession of almost all types of major vaccines like AstraZeneca, Sinopharm and Pfizer, the region has one of the lowest rates of vaccine globally. Pan American Health Organization Director Carissa F. Etienne stated that 75% of the populations in the region are unvaccinated, and most countries have not even vaccinated 20% of their populations. While in only just the past few weeks Caribbean and Latin America collectively recorded 1.6 million COVID-19 cases and over 22,000 deaths. Dominica was the first one to get access to coronavirus vaccines when India donated over 70,000 doses of the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. Soon after making its generous gift to Dominica, India moved ahead with its "Vaccine Maitri Initiative" and donated vaccines to St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Grenada, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, St Vincent & Grenadines, Jamaica, Belize etc. A large number of the countries also benefited from the Sinopharm vaccine donations made by the People's Republic of China and Pfizer from United States of America, Astrazeneca from UK. The small countries in the Caribbean gained access to the vaccine before some of the bigger nations around the world, but still, as per statistics, only one in four people is vaccinated. What exactly went wrong?

Vaccine Hesitancy: People across the Caribbean and Latin America showed extreme vaccine hesitancy; a large number of people are not taking the shot over fears of experiencing major side effects. In certain countries, the public also carried out "anti-vaccine" protests, demonstrating against the mandatory COVID-19 legislations for front-line workers.
Lack of awareness: Another major reason contributing to the lower number of vaccines is lack of awareness. People are not made aware of the benefits of the doses. The governments are somehow unable to carry out better awareness campaigns, it is not that they didn't try, but it seems like they could not reach the more unenlightened populations.
Awaiting for a better vaccine: While the region has access to most of the global COVID-19 vaccines, some are still waiting for those which have not reached there. Certain individuals claim they are not getting their doses because they are waiting for other vaccines like Moderna or Sputnik.

While not every country is in possession of enough doses to vaccinate their full populations, but they do have a sufficient amount of vaccines to immunize their target populations. PAHO believer an additional 560 million doses are required to get the Caribbean and Latin America fully vaccinated, while doses in some countries are at waste because the people are not ready to be vaccinated. The access to vaccines are highly-likely to increase as Pfizer has contracted with Brazil's Europharma to manufacture doses for Latin America. Not only that, Cuban vaccine Abdala is a hope for most of the low-income countries in the region.