70% of over 16s have received first shot
(CNS): Chief Medical Officer Dr John Lee has said that 70% of eligible people in the Cayman Islands, which is all of those over the age of 16, have had at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, which translates to 56% of the wider population. Given that children are still not able to be vaccinated, that number is a significant portion of those able to get the shot, but to reach a level of herd immunity that will help protect young people until a suitable vaccine for children is cleared for use, officials want to see around 4,000 or more adults get their shots to create a safe environment that could enable the borders to open.
According to the latest figures, another 418 people were vaccinated for the first time over the last day, increasing the number of those that have begun or completed the two-dose course of either the Pfizer or the AstraZeneca vaccine to 36,709. Public Health is urging members of the community who have not yet been vaccinated to do so before 9 June to meet the expiration date of the remaining vaccine stocks.
Meanwhile, no new cases of the virus have been reported and there are just ten active cases of COVID-19 among those in quarantine, with one person said to be suffering symptoms.
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Category: Health, Medical Health
Good. We have excelled in a constantly evolving global situation that is not going to end soon. Some of us want to pretend that we can just pop back to normal, and we can look around at other places that have tried and failed with more resources than we.
Remember, 14 days was a minimum that we accepted as a standard, when vetted medical studies indicate a possibility of longer times.
I think we need to keep with the same standard until the world is safe. Vaccinated or not, you are still at risk. We don’t yet know if there is a viral escape situation at work. Our simple vacation wants and needs shouldn’t outweigh a sensible threat mitigation strategy.
For those more interested in science than conspiracy theories there is an interesting paper recently published in the British Medical Journal.
One of the findings related to incubation periods in higher risk patients who had been vaccinated. In this group longer incubation periods – beyond 14 days – were observed:
“However, 12% (211) showed symptoms 15-21 days after vaccination and 29% (526) more than 21 days after vaccination. These cases could be due to vaccination failure, meaning that the vaccine failed to provide the person with immunity. The team emphasised that this was not an unexpected finding, as the vaccines were not 100% effective, and that the absolute numbers of vaccinated people being admitted to hospital 21 days after their first dose were “tiny.”
https://www.bmj.com/content/373/bmj.n1127
You always need to read the whole article:
“The report said it was possible that “elderly and vulnerable people who had been shielding may have inadvertently been exposed and infected either through the end-to-end process of vaccination, or shortly after vaccination through behavioural changes where they wrongly assume they are immune.””
This is why it takes 5 weeks to be fully protected.
1st shot
Wait 21 days
2nd shot
Wait 14 days
Congratulations you are now fully protected.
Possible, probable, may, might, likely, unlikely,..
Absolute truth is something that is true at all times and in all places. It is something that is always true no matter what the circumstances. It is a fact that cannot be changed.
Imagine having to quarantine even after having two shots.
Imagine understanding that the vaccine is 95% effective which means that 5 out of a hundred fully vaccinated people can still contract the virus and spread it to others. So for every Cayman Airways flight with 100 people who are fully vaccinated, 5 could still be capable of transmitting the virus to others if they do not quarantine.
To increase vaccine taken by Caymanians and you people has Cayman Airways started a rule that anyone over 16 boarding a flight originating in Cayman must show proof of vaccination? I am sure that will help. And protect the Cayman community as it decrease the chances of travelers bringing back the virus on return.
**young people not you people. Sorry – autocorrect
For the vaccine hesitant and the resisters:
“SINGAPORE – A Covid-19 vaccination is not risk-free, but the risk is small, and a person in fact puts himself, his loved ones and society at higher risk by not getting a jab, experts said at a Straits Times Reset webinar, The A-Z of Covid-19 vaccine, on Thursday (Dec 17).
“It’s not a matter of saying, if I do nothing, we’re okay. The weighing is really not between the vaccine and nothing, but the vaccine and the disease,” said Associate Professor Lim Poh Lian, director of the high-level isolation unit at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases and a member of the Ministry of Health’s Covid-19 Vaccine Expert Committee.
“To be afraid to (get vaccinated) just because you’re afraid of that very small risk will then actually harm a lot more people.”
Read more here :
https://www.straitstimes.com/global
Somebody tell this to our FOUR hold-up politicians please!!
will keep asking this and hopefully it is brought up at the press conference today.
the danger of covid is making sure your health services are not overrun.
we have are now at 90% vaccinated rate for at risk people….young people are not going to get seriously ill from this.
any other country in the worl would be fully re-opened if they were at this level of vaccination.
why are our borders still shut?…vaccinated people must be able to travle freely with quarantine restrictions.
“…any other country in the worl would be fully re-opened if they were at this level of vaccination…”
The Seychelles had a higher vaccination rate than Cayman, and are now having problems.
They also had a different vaccine. One with 79% efficacy.
Let’s go Cayman- get your shots- let’s open up and see the world again and welcome the world again. Welcome those who are vaccinated !
It appears that some vaccines are much more effective than others especially in relation to the variants. If being vaccinated is a condition of coming to Cayman in the future we will need to specify specific vaccines as the only ones acceptable.
70% is a good number. Hopefully we can get that a lot higher. Gibraltar is at 98% with both shots.
For those that argue that Covid is over, this from the WHO’s representative on Covid – from the Guardian –
“This pandemic is fearsome and it’s accelerating faster than ever and it’s a global phenomenon. There are a few countries that are able to demonstrate that they’ve got much lower levels of disease and they’re actually feeling that they’re recovering, but the majority of the world is heading into a very, very dark period. The reason why it’s particularly dark is that now we don’t have the full data because more and more the pandemic is spreading in places where testing is not available, so the numbers that we have we know are a major under-estimate. It’s bigger than ever, it’s fiercer than ever and it’s causing more distress than ever, this is a bad phase.”
That is too many facts – we prefer to base our decisions on ignorance and a desire to party in Miami.
Gibraltar rocks!
People – the incubation period of Sars-CoV-2 is 14 days+ whether or not a person is vaccinated. That is reality.
The virus does not negotiate a reduced incubation period with vaccinated people!
In fact, based on experience with the newer strains, Singapore and Hong Kong have increased enforced quarantine from 14 days to 21 days for vaccinated people coming from almost every country on the planet.
Stop with the facts already. Your going to spoil my delusions!
Sources?
Bit closer to India than we are in Cayman.
I can’t find anything that backs up your assertions of “reality” I’m afraid…
Check your facts and provide proof.
Pay attention, its important.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0sg9G5BBVU
The Seychelles, much hailed as one of the top vaccination participation success stories on the planet, is in the midst of a surge of new cases, where a third of infected symptomatic are past recipients of two doses of Sinopharm. So it’s not just a matter of being vaxed or not, it actually matters which one you get in your arm.
COVID Vaccines platforms:
Human adenovirus => Sputnik V, Johnson&Johnson, CanSino
Chimpanzee adenovirus => AstraZeneca
Dead COVID19=> Sinopharm, Sinovac
Synthetic COVID S-protein => Novovax
mRNA => Pfizer, Moderna
Evidence isn’t looking good for the Chinese vaccine honestly. The Pfizer one we have here is showing to be very effective in the real world. Israel has quashed the virus despite being fully open and they used only the Pfizer one. Definitely get this vaccine while you still can if you haven’t yet.
COVID vaccine platforms illustrated. https://mvec.mcri.edu.au/references/covid-19-vaccine-platforms/
Good news!
I’m excited to return to Grand Cayman!
4000 to go. at a rate of 500 per day that’s 8 days to the finish line!
GO GRAND CAYMAN you can do It.
Probably not going to happen. Too many people are afraid of the vaccine and many will not get vaccinated because they do not wish for tourism to return. Many want the islands to return to the days of yesteryear, they wish to turn back time. If the borders don’t open until Covid is no longer a threat then it is very likely we will see a sad-looking place when visitors are allowed to return.
Seychelles has 60% fully vaccinated and 85% with at least 1 dose of the vaccine. They opened to fully vaccinated tourists but now have a bad Covid outbreak and are having to shut down. Part of their problem is the South Africa strain which is now circulating in the US.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-04/world-s-most-vaccinated-nation-reintroduces-curbs-as-cases-surge
They opened to unvaccinated as well and removed all covid restrictions. On top of this, they are being vaccinated with the less effecting Sinovac and Covishield vaccines. Even still, definitely we should be far more conscious than they were.
They initially opened only to vaccinated and about 4 weeks ago opened to non-vaccinated. Their Covid recurrence began when they were only allowing vaccinated people in.
That is not true. They changed to allow everyone in regardless of vaccination status and dropped other restrictions because they had no cases. The cases increased from unvaccinated tourists.
Part of their problem is using the crappy Chinese vaccines.
China seems to be doing just fine
CNS: China imposed incredibly strict lockdown and mask wearing whenever and wherever necessary. No arguing when the government tells you to do something. They’re vaccinations may not be as good as some of the Western ones but they have started the process of vaccinating everyone and have so far administered about 250 million doses. Again, no argument. Vaccine hesitancy is not a thing there.
It is not true that the Seychelles only opened to fully vaccinated tourists. They opened to all people and being vaccinated was not a requirement. All that was required was a negative covid test.
So then the negative Covid test by itself is not much good as a tool to keep Covid out of Cayman.
A negative test with proof of vaccination will work. Quarantine could potentially be just a few days with a negative test. It will be up to the new government really…
How is that the problem when the vax companies have confirmed that variants are only about 0.3% different from the original virus and that’s why they haven’t updated their vax even though with mRNA technology they could do it within a week. These variants have been around 6 months now but no updated or tweaked vaccines?
Not sure what the dislikes mean. I expect that some people don’t like evidence that contradicts the credibility of their choice for opening irrespective of the risks???
Question: If the vaccine doesnt make you immune, how does a vaccinated population get herd immunity?
👍👍👍
The vaccine may not make you 100% immune, but does lower your chance of catching the virus and passing it on – if 80% or more of the population is doing this, it protects everyone else.
Vaccine does make you far more likely to not spread the virus as the vaccine stops it from replicating to a point where you would become infectious. Also, if you have the vaccine, and everyone around you does as well, you are even more protected. Research into viral load and how it can make you more infectious.
The experience of other countries in opening after partial vaccination should guide decision makers in our country.
In Bermuda, opening with less than 60% of people over 16 fully vaccinated has led to disaster with many deaths.
Gibraltar has fully vaccinated 98% of its over 16 population and has slowly re-opened safely it appears.
Today CNN reports that the Seychelles has had significant community spread of the South African variant with 85% fully vaccinated and only accepting tourists that are fully vaccinated: From CNN today
“The Seychelles reported an uptick in cases on Wednesday, according to the country’s Health Ministry, despite the fact that the island nation has already vaccinated 59,676 people — 85% of its population.
The ministry reported 497 cases over a three-day period, it said in a Facebook post. To date, 6,373 cases of Covid-19 have been diagnosed in the Seychelles. The country’s national broadcaster, Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation (SBC,) reported in April that the South Africa variant had been found in several patients.
The rise in cases, which began last month, prompted the US Centers For Disease Control to issue a Level 4 Travel warning advising against going to the tourism-dependent country.
On Monday, the Health Ministry closed specialized medical clinics and suspended surgeries outside of emergency operations and cancer treatments.”
We are headed in the right direction but it is not safe to open yet!
This isn’t true, they opened to unvaccinated as well. A mistake that hopefully we won’t make.
Both Bermuda and the Seychelles opened up to everyone, regardless of vaccination status. The Seychelles initially required people to be vaccinated but dropped that restriction in late March. Since then all they’ve required is a negative covid test.
Excellent evidence that negative Covid tests by themselves will not protect Cayman if we reopen the borders.
Open those Borders and let us vaccinated Brits come and holiday and spend our money…please!
Come, quarantine, holiday. It works.
I guess you must have a lot of holiday time. Not everyone has that luxury.
We can go anytime, we own the place.
4,000 at 400 a day = 10 days till we meet the target – so we are getting close to some safe form of opening.
Panton, Roper and Lee. Put on a new conference already and let us know the timeline of a plan.
Let American, United, Delta and Air Canada put on some flights.
There is one today
From the article:
“Officials want to see around 4,000 or more adults get their shots to create a safe environment that could enable the borders to open.”
There’s your timeline, it’s up to the community to get their shots.
Open it all up. Let ‘er buck. Let’s test out all the systems and vaxes and everything. I agree. We have all done that which we felt was proper. I think the Territory should transition into a metered reopening, and see how it affects us.
We can’t really afford to keep it locked up, can we? That’s what I’m being told. I know of several of my kin who want to come back, but won’t until they don’t have to endure quarantine.
Do we put up or shut up?
Looking abroad, the only thing we’d be testing is our hospital ICU capacity (of a couple dozen beds), and then the gas supply for the single slot crematorium.
8:41. Stop with the dramatics. Jeezum peace.
I’m hoping this means we’re closer to opening up some. I don’t want them to just throw the gates open or anything but make it no quarantine for FULLY vaccinated persons!
8:04pm Fully vaccinated persons can transmit and contract the virus just like unvaccinated persons, cut the crap about no quarantine for fully vaccinated persons! This big lie is being perpetuated on the people, but sooner or later we’ll all see.
Fully vaccinated will have a far lower risk to transmit the virus due to viral load reduction. Research is showing the viral load is the main factor that allows the virus to spread. The vaccine drastically reduces viral load and thus, does reduce the chance transmission of the virus from person to person is more unlikely.
Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/yes-vaccines-block-most-transmission-of-covid-19?cmpid=int_org=ngp::int_mc=website::int_src=ngp::int_cmp=amp::int_add=amp_readtherest
9:15am still doesn’t change that fact that fully vaccinated persons are transmitted and shedding the virus.
You are correct, there are still risks with allowing people in, even vaccinated without some kind of quarantine. However, due to the large amount of the population already vaccinated, that quarantine time would be far less than the current 10 days.
There is increasing evidence that this is extremely rare.
9:39am, what is rare transmission or contraction? 35% of active case in Seychelles are fully vaccinated persons. In the below article the writer conveniently left this out, by saying “nearly 65 percent of the active COVID-19 cases were those who have not been vaccinated or have received only one dose”. Read between the lines.
https://in.news.yahoo.com/seychelles-worlds-most-vaccinated-nation-081710301.html
CNS: The Seychelles is mostly administering China’s Sinopharm vaccine, which is less effective than the Western vaccine, particularly against the variants.
Unfortunately, it’s a bit more complicated than that. All of the vaccines globally are not all the same in terms of efficacy, which also depends a lot on who’s arm those doses went into, where that was done, and reliability of that documentation. We need to make sure Cayman’s Pfizer rollout, administrators, and testing labs, are certified at the forefront as reliable, and not automatically pegged as third world out of political bias. Eg. Canada won’t take Cayman-based PCR results at land borders – only from USA labs. We need to be part of the global travel documents discussion, happening now. Especially since we achieved what very few places managed to do, or hold, and months before vaccines.
Cayman finally had a great story, that could have helped the rest of humanity, but instead decided not to bother to tell it, for whatever reason.
Open the borders!
Now the truth comes out.
Excellent news. Hopefully this can get us on the uk green list announced on may 17 so no quarantine required in Europe this summer.
And no quarantine in cayman this summer either. It’s time for those vaccinated to be able to travel in and out of cayman for all locals, residents, tourists.
Perhaps initially, all those vaccinated with approved vaccines from countries recognized as meeting passing rollout and documentation standards. It’s a complicated subject, and fraught with bias.
It’s time to open the borders for vaccinated people and get rid of the quarantine.
Or at least bring quarantine down to say, 5 days, for those fully vaccinated, with a pretest 3 days prior to arrival plus a negative test on arrival
The virus does not negotiate- the incubation period is 14+ days with or without vaccination.
If I am vaccinated, test negative 3 days before arrival, test negative on arrival, and then test negative on day 5 after arrival, it is very very unlikely I have the virus
People will just continue to go elsewhere. If you want tourists- open borders to vaccinated tourists with no quarantine or they will not come. Too many other options.