Jamaica banking on Biden for 1 million vaccines

Jamaica could be the beneficiary of one million doses of COVID-19 vaccine if the Biden-Harris administration accedes to an impassioned request of prominent expatriates and others lobbying the White House on what they describe as “the most consequential humanitarian crisis” since Independence.

The request to the Biden administration preceded Monday’s announcement that the United States would offload 60 million doses of vaccines to other nations. But that pressure intensified with two rounds of negotiations on Tuesday as nations jostle for the ear of presidential advisers.

Among those in the forefront of the lobby are the Rev Dr Karen Green, vice-chair of the Democratic Party in Florida, who is Jamaican; Congressman Darren Soto of Florida’s 9th congressional district who has been a long-time advocate for Caribbean American communities; and Congresswoman Stacy Plaskett of the US Virgin Islands.

Jamaica’s ambassador to Washington, Audrey Marks, and consul general in Miami, Oliver Mair, have also been involved in the talks.

Now-deceased Florida Congressman Alcee Hastings was part of the negotiations earlier.

The release of one million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, pending federal safety review, could add fervour to Jamaica’s vaccination drive, as the country lags behind most Caribbean countries on per-capita inoculation despite its crude volume of more than 135,000 shots.

At 4.6 doses per 100 people, Jamaica ranked 84th out of 157 countries and third from bottom among English-speaking Caribbean nations according to a mid-April New York Times tracker.

The country has seen its positivity rate fall by half after several weekend lockdowns which depressed daily infections to double digits as at Tuesday.

Infections now stand at 45,212 while there have been 767 deaths. Hospitalisations have fallen by around 50 per cent to 220, with 30 patients critically ill and 12 moderate.

The terms of the prospective US vaccine offer are unclear.

The effort to secure vaccine supplies for Jamaica began on March 27 when Green sent a letter to President Joseph R. Biden pressing Washington to allow the northern Caribbean island to tap its arsenal of vaccines.

COVID CRISIS DIRE

Against the backdrop of a series of briefings held with various representatives, Green cast Jamaica’s COVID-19 crisis as dire.

“While the Caribbean region, at large, will certainly need assistance under the programme, there is broad consensus at this stage that Jamaica’s exigent healthcare emergency requires priority action,” Green said in her letter to the president.

“Where Jamaica was one of the few countries to benefit expeditiously from case-management strategies in the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak, the explosive spread of the virus has ripped through the population,” the letter said.

The letter continued: “Mr President, Jamaica now finds itself facing the most consequential humanitarian crisis since our Independence and as a proud Jamaica immigrant, I am personally grateful for your attention to this intervention.”

Marks told The Gleaner that she was grateful for the efforts of Jamaicans in the diaspora in rallying to the country’s aid.