Vaccine take-up still stalled as Phase 2 approaches
(CNS): Just 92 more people stepped forward to get vaccinated against COVID-19 for the first time over the last two days. while 98 got their second dose. Just five weeks ahead of the proposed soft border opening on 9 September and less than one week away from Phase 2, when government plans to stop digitally monitoring people in home isolation who are vaccinated, there is no sign that the plan to re-open is encouraging people to come forward.
Just 68% of the estimated population is now fully vaccinated against the coronavirus and 71% have had at least one jab, which means more than 6,000 adults and kids over 12 need to come forward for their first shot in the next couple of weeks if government is to meet the 80% target by 9 September.
Meanwhile, two more travellers in isolation have tested positive for COVID-19 over the last day and there are now seven active cases among those isolating, three of whom are suffering symptoms of the virus but their are no hospitalised COVID patients.
As of Monday, people arriving in Cayman with a verifiable, full vaccination course will be asked to self-isolate for five days on trust. This will significantly increases the risk of community transmission since, while the potential punishment of six months in jail or CI$10,000 fine remains, without the monitoring system there will be less risk of travellers being caught if they break the rules.
Government has said this small change is a first step that will allow officials to assess local impacts and build capacity to manage the increase in traveller volume anticipated with the opening of the borders in Phase 3. Few other changes will happen on Monday, though vaccinated front-line workers will now face weekly PCR testing, given the higher risk of exposure.
See here for more information on securely verifiable vaccination records.
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Category: Health, Medical Health
With Cuba being in a sad state that it is in, there could be a volunteer mission with a plane flown to cuba and vaccines being given at the airport in Cuba. This could save many lives with unused vaccines that are soon to expire… but the Cayman government is selfish so I doubt we will help our neighbors in their time of need.
You could say that about any country with vaccine stock and any country in need! We need our vaccines here currently. Have you heard of COVAX?
Another big US company has taken a step in the right direction:
“United Airlines has become the latest company to require all its US.-based employees to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
The airline said employees would need to show proof of vaccination, five weeks after the US drug regulator fully approved any of the vaccines or by 25 October, whichever was earlier, Reuters reports.
Employees who get vaccinated before 20 September and those that have already received their shots will get an additional day of pay, United chief executive officer Scott Kirby and president Brett Hart said.”
And CNN fired two employees yesterday for turning up to work unvaccinated. We need the private sector in cayman to do the same, stand up and play their part
Government should announce its plans for the 10,000+ unused vaccine doses we have that will expire in the foreseeable future. It seems unlikely that they will be used given the level of conspiracy theories circulating. These doses cannot be shipped to other countries that need them so do we offer boosters to those who want them or do we send them to the dump?
Today, some of those data were published in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), demonstrating that Delta infection resulted in similarly high SARS-CoV-2 viral loads in vaccinated and unvaccinated people. High viral loads suggest an increased risk of transmission and raised concern that, unlike with other variants, vaccinated people infected with Delta can transmit the virus. This finding is concerning and was a pivotal discovery leading to CDC’s updated mask recommendation. The masking recommendation was updated to ensure the vaccinated public would not unknowingly transmit virus to others, including their unvaccinated or immunocompromised loved ones.
And it logically then follows that being vaccinated does not protect others.
Except your chances of catching it in the first place are reduced by a factor of 8. If you don’t catch it can’t transmit it. And then if you do catch it, less likely by a factor of 25 times to take up a hospital bed – which also protects others. So basically, you are wrong.
Lets open up anyway!
Hopefully government will announce its plans for booster shots very soon. CBC
“the United States is working to give additional COVID-19 booster shots to Americans with compromised immune systems as quickly as possible, as cases of the novel coronavirus continue to rise, top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday.
The U.S. is joining Germany, France and Israel in giving booster shots”
We have thousands of vaccine doses here that will expire in the coming couple of months. They cannot be shipped anywhere else so I agree with this post that the unused vaccine should be given to those who want a booster and not sent to the dump.
Yes, follow same structure as before. Start with 70+ and other vulnerable groups and then work the way down.
I understand your feelings, however the unused vaccine cannot be used as a booster. The boosters are specifically tailored to the variants, Delta in particular. There will likely be more boosters as various variants emerge, depending upon the specific characteristics of the variants.
Modified vaccines probably are on the horizon but Israel and a number of other countries have started using the same Pfizer vaccine as a booster and shown excellent results. I would be satisfied with excellent results.
Good to know. I’ll point my research in that direction.
“ Vaccine certification will remain a “permanent” fixture for international travel for the “foreseeable future”, according to Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary.
British holidaymakers over 18 require full vaccination to avoid self-isolation on return to the UK from amber-listed destinations and many countries also require foreign visitors to have received both jabs to enter quarantine-free.
“I do see this becoming a permanent, for the foreseeable future, fixture of international travel,” Mr Shapps told ITV News.
“I’ve chaired meetings with my transport equivalents [in other countries], when I speak to them it’s quite clear that double vaccination will be a requirement, we’re already seeing it in virtually every country in the world […] If you haven’t got your vaccination yet, please get it, unless you’re medically exempt, you will need it in order to be able to travel in the future,” he added. “
You are going to need to be vaccinated if you ever want to travel and also live your life freely here or in other countries in the future – so why would anyone choose to not get a safe, reliable vaccine that protects you from ending up in hospital when we get community spread soon, and which hugely reduces your chances of catching and transmitting covid to others?
It really is an easy choice to make – you would have to be mad to not get the vaccine.
We should also all be offered a booster if we had our second dose more than 6 mths ago – in sure we are fine but if people don’t want to use the jabs then let’s offer a booster to the sensible people who will be able to live their lives normally when we open.
Its not safe and its not reliable. Loads of people with issues after taking the vaccine. lets keep things the way they are. People to do weekly quarantine monitored by the government and big fines if they walk around.
Canada is looking at requiring all federal civil servants and employees of federally regulated companies and agencies to be vaccinated. Seems like something that should be looked at here too.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-mandatory-vaccines-federal-workers-regulated-industries-1.6130766
Common sense on health related matters is stronger in Canada than in the Cayman Islands. We have a very bad common sense variant here on the Cayman Islands.
I read medical newsletters from reputable sources, such as New England Journal of Medicine, Harvard Medical Review and Lancet.
But who do some people get their vaccine information from? A Youtube video by a Toronto children’s dentist.
Well use your informed sources to debunk the misguided if what they are saying doesn’t goes with what you are reading.
Man I give up. I have a month off work now, very angry I can’t fly to Europe for 4 weeks, and comment a lot, but I read daily here:
1) you are just as likely to spread COVID or get it vaccinated vs unvaccinated
2) unvaccinated should have same rights as vaccinated
3) the vaccine is not approved or is dangerous
I’ve lived in cayman as a British (uk) national for 12 years, we know the above 3 points are complete lies and untrue. But I give up now. I’ve done all I can. It’s so sad Caymanians don’t want to develop and some day earn the same money and be capable of doing the job I do in these islands, and be the dominant force in their own country, So, so sad.
Dear cayman… please grow up. I’m leaving.
See ya later
We are closing our Cayman office in the next two weeks, only a relatively small business but it can be conducted in the real world as it requires travel and face-to-face meetings. Sad to leave but we need to survive.
Good, more space for more sensibly businesses to thrive who are able to adapt to the new world we are living in.
You are brilliant.
Adios amigos!
Leave and don’t come back, we won’t miss you
Gibralter boasts a vaccination rate of 90%. They are currently experiencing about 30 new infections daily but they aren’t dying. What does that tell you about whether or not vaccinated individuals can spread covid 19? Point #1. With that, point 2 and 3 are moot. They have less than half of the population as Cayman.
I don’t blame you for leaving though, just don’t blame it on those who don’t dictate the rules.
Bye Felicia
Italy took another positive step today
“The Italian government has said teachers will need proof of immunity from Covid-19 from the start of September, as travellers on public transport will also need the country’s “green pass”.”
Hopefully this will allow the cat out of the bag. A little bit of COVID transmission, several deaths, then some people will realize that the vaccination is their best option. It will literally take people dying for some to take it seriously, which is unfortunate.
I still would not take it.
Weird cross to die on.
So people need to die so you can leave the island a for a few weeks and then not have to stay in your house for a week on your return.
Right the borders are closed and life here is normal, there is no community spread. Therefore all borders should be closed to eradicate the virus as the vaccine is not the cure, but it will stop from getting seriously ill and hospitalized and a booster maybe needed every six months. Is the world getting back to normal?
Lol. COVID will never fo away. You gonna keep the border closed for 100 years?
Its not closed. You can come and go. Only you have to quarantine. You realise this is a world wide plague? Sorry that quaratine is an inconvenience but lives are saved and people won’t have their loved ones die.
Not correct. There are almost no available flights
Life is not normal here!!!! It’s not been normal since Jan 2020
5:18, the rest of the world has been getting back to normal for a year. We stuck in same spot as last year.
Something to consider. It was announced today that Canada is thinking of making vaccination mandatory for all federal government employees and all employees in federally regulated businesses. They are aiming to prevent the next Covid wave likely to happen this fall. What are we doing other than watching vaccines expire?
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-mandatory-vaccines-federal-workers-regulated-industries-1.6130766
Go live in Canada. You can walk around there all you want and leave and get covid and bring it back and walk around some more.
When it comes to public health policy Canada has it’s act together unlike us. Wish the Cayman Islands Government could learn from Canada.