Barbados leads Caribbean in COVID vaccinations

The March 2021 update of the Caribbean COVID-19 report, prepared by Julia Jhinkoo-Ramdass has just been issued at DeLisleWorrell.com.

The report lists 11 leading vaccines now in use globally, together with information on how they work, their efficacy, and the countries where they have been approved for use, mostly in “emergency” situations.

Also included is information on COVID infections in the Caribbean, the vaccines in use, and the number of persons vaccinated.

That information is summarized in the chart below, which is extracted from the report.

The report notes that “the fiscal strain on Caribbean economies continues to be very intense, with many of them having higher debt levels and fiscal deficits in 2020 than in 2019.

One year into the pandemic and fiscal space is even more limited than before, because of the need for governments to finance resources for health care systems; in 2021 this cost is elevated because of COVID- 19 vaccines.

There is still need for governments to continue supporting the vulnerable sectors of their economies because removing fiscal support too early would derail their uncertain economic recovery.”

A note on COVID test results in Barbados, February 14 – March 18

The chart which follows shows that the rate of positives in COVID testing in the week to March 18 ranged from a low of 2.8 percent to a high of 8.9 percent.

The number of tests completed daily was below 500, except on March 17, when 573 tests were performed.