Photo: CDC/UNSPLASH

The Caribbean, affected by a 60% to 80% drop in arrival of visitors last year due to the pandemic, is pinning its hopes on COVID-19 vaccines to reactivate the tourism industry, a difficult challenge since, in the words of Neil Walters, acting secretary general of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), experts estimate that the region will regain its normal levels of tourism in 2022 or 2023.

The area nations are seeking vaccines in India and China, sandiegouniontribune.com pointed out; at least 13 countries in the region joined the World Health Organization (WHO) COVAX program, which distributes vaccines among low- and middle-income countries; some islands have received vaccines from AstraZeneca, through India’s Vaccine Friendship program….

Cuba is the only nation in Latin America and the Caribbean that is developing its own vaccines, with five vaccine candidates, two of which, Soberana 02 and Abdala, are already in the third phase of clinical trials; it expects to produce 100 million doses of Soberana 02 this year to vaccinate its entire population of 11 million people and export to other countries by the end of the year.

The beginning of the mass vaccination plan for the population of the Dominican Republic will strengthen its position as a safe destination, according to Minister of Tourism David Collado. It received 768,000 doses of Sinopharm from China and is beginning to receive vaccines from AstraZeneca and Pfizer, and estimates that, by the end of 2021, 70% of Dominicans over 18 years old—7.8 million people—will be vaccinated, a press release sent to TTC by LAWRENCE Communication stated.

According to sandiegouniontribune.com, Jamaica expects to receive 50,000 vaccines from India, 14,400 from AstraZeneca, through the COVAX program, and has signed up for 1.8 million doses through the African Medical Supply Platform, an African Union non-profit initiative.

Dominica received 70,000 doses and is waiting for further shipments from China and the COVAX program; Barbados acquired 100,000 from India and donated 2,000 to Trinidad and Tobago, which has requested another 250,000 from India.

In the context of the Americas, countries will receive more than 26 million COVID-19 vaccines by May, most of them from AstraZeneca/Oxford, according to a list from the Gavi alliance referred to by Prensa Latina. According to the document, 30 Latin American and Caribbean nations are among the 142 that will have 237 million doses of these vaccines. The Latin American nations that will get the most vaccines are Brazil, with 9.1 million, and Mexico, 5.5 million.

Mexico reports the use of the CanSino, AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Sputnik V vaccines, through which the vaccination of the entire Mexican population is guaranteed, and free of charge, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador guaranteed.

Colombia was the first country in the region to receive vaccines through the COVAX mechanism, with a batch of 117,000 doses from the U.S. Pfizer pharmaceutical company in conjunction with the German BioNTech company; that country will receive more than two million doses in the coming months.

Until May, Argentina will obtain 1.9 million doses; Peru, 1.2 million; and Chile, 818,000. On the other hand, Ecuador will have 756,000; Bolivia (672,000), Paraguay (304,000) and Uruguay, 148,000, according to Prensa Latina.

Also about to receive vaccines are Guatemala (724,000), Honduras (424,000), Nicaragua (432,000) and El Salvador (225,000). Guyana expects 20,000 doses from Beijing; Costa Rica will have 218,000 doses, and Panama, 184,000.

Nicaragua received a Sputnik V donation from Russia; a shipment of 200,000 doses donated by the government of India has been announced; and it will be receiving through the Gavi-COVAX mechanism, in cooperation with the WHO and the Pan American Health Organization, another batch of 130,000 vaccines.

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