Royal Gazette- Royal Caribbean International scrapped plans to send cruise ships to Bermuda this summer because of the Government’s insistence that all passengers had to be vaccinated, it was revealed yesterday.
Lawrence Scott, the transport minister, said that other destinations only required a proportion of passengers to be vaccinated, which made them more attractive to cruise lines.
But Mr Scott defended the hard line on vaccinations and insisted that public safety could not be compromised.
Mr Scott highlighted that the CDC regulations were less strict than Bermuda’s regulations
He said: “That contradicts our current health policies of fully vaccinated cruises for Bermuda and that is where – although they’re running within the guidelines of the CDC – they’re outside our health guidelines.
“So for us, we can’t allow them to operate like that. When it comes to health and the safety of the country and the health risk we’re not willing to compromise on that.”
RCI’s Freedom of the Seas and Enchantment of the Seas were scheduled to make 21 visits each to Bermuda from July to October.
But RCI confirmed last week that the itinerary had been cancelled.
Mr Scott added: “When the CDC said ‘hey, you can start sailing out of US waters’, RCI had to make a decision between focusing on home porting in Bermuda or getting their core market back up and running.
“They made the decision to get their core market back up and running, which we can understand because Bermuda still benefits by having the traditional cruises coming in.
“They then went on to look into the CDC guidelines and they realised that they could adjust their business model to run vaccinated cruises but not totally vaccinated cruises – while abiding by the CDC guidelines.”
The RCI announcement came after the US Centres for Disease Control confirmed that ships could sail out of US ports with some restrictions – and that not all passengers had to be vaccinated.
Freedom of the Seas has now been rerouted and will spend the summer sailing to the Bahamas.
The company had earlier planned to have a third vessel home port in Bermuda.
But another cruise ship home porting in Bermuda will set sail on its first voyage of the summer today.
Viking Orion, which will operate at 50 per cent capacity, will spend five days at sea before a return to the island.
A total of seven more voyages are planned over the summer.
Mr Scott said he was satisfied that the vessel would stick to the island’s safety regulations.
He added: “I haven’t been directly involved in vaccinations – however, I have seen the overarching policies and guidelines that Viking are abiding by and they have my full support with their health policies.
“I say that because they have the most sophisticated and thorough internal testing and monitoring system that I’ve seen on any cruise ship.
“They have invested heavily – they actually have a laboratory on board.
“They have the UV lights in their filtration system. They have the robots that go around at night cleaning the common areas.”
Mr Scott said: “And if that wasn’t enough, they also have customers being saliva tested every day.
“They even go so far to say for their outbreak policy, if three people out of 900 test positive, they will consider that an outbreak and they go into their outbreak protocols – that means the ship stays at sea.
“That thoroughness, that dedication to the health and safety of their customers gives me peace and helps me sleep at night.
“They’re going to start off with 50 per cent 60, so every sailing they’ll have more passengers on board, which is the new standard for the industry.”
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Jamaica Observer- The trade war between Jamaica and Dominica over soap has intensified with the battle now reaching in the Jamaican courts.
Two agencies of the Jamaican Government, the Trade Board and the Jamaica Customs Agency, and their bosses the Trade Administrator and the Commissioner of Customs and Excise as well as local soap manufacturer Blue Power Group have all been sued in Jamaica by Dominica soap manufacturer DCP- Successors Limited.
The suit is the latest in a series of maneuverings by DCP Successors and the Dominica Government to get a level playing field regarding competition in the soap marketing within Caricom, accusing Jamaica and Blue Power of uncompetitive practices.
DCP-Successor manufactures soap and exports all across the region and is regarded as the preeminent manufacturer of soaps in Dominica, providing its produce to cruise lines and leading hotel chains. The company has also produces global brands under contract, including Palmolive, Protex, Jergens, Dial, Tone, Imperial Leather, to name a few.
In firing the latest salvo in this raging trade war, DCP has gone to the Jamaican court seeking redress by way of restraining and directing orders, having earlier gone to Caricom’s Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED), which late last year issued an adverse ruling on Jamaican-manufactured soaps.
COTED ruled that Jamaica, through its trade board, should not issue any certificates of origin for soaps manufactured under the current manufacturing process in the island.
Court orders being sought by DCP for trade redress
Lack of a certificate of origin from Jamaica may require an importer in a Caricom country to pay a tariff on imported Jamaican soap. still dissatisfied with the situation after this ruling, DCP- Successor petitioned the Jamaican Supreme Court on June 8, 2021 seeking, “an order to restrain Jamaica’s Trade Administrator and Trade Board from issuing certificates of origin to local soap manufacturers in respect of soap produced from pellets/noodles imported from outside of Caricom.”
Soap pellets/noodles are a key bulk ingredient used in the production of bath and laundry soaps.
The Dominica company is also seeking an order directing, “the Jamaican Commissioner of Customs and Excise and the Jamaican Customs Agency to apply a Common External Tariff of 40 per cent on all bulk noodles/pellets (from outside of Caricom) imported by Blue Power and other Jamaican soap manufacturers.”
In addition to these orders, DCP- Successor is also seeking to, “obtain from the Caribbean Court of Justice an advisory opinion on (a) the applicability of a Common External Tariff of 40 per cent to be imposed on imports from outside of Caricom of noodles/pellets used in the production of soap in Jamaica and (b) the validity of certificates of origin issued by the Jamaican Government in connection with bath and laundry soap produced in Jamaica with imported noodles/pellets.”
Blue Power responds
In its response to the lawsuit and ongoing trade war between Jamaica and Dominica on soap, Blue Power Group (BPG) says it has been engaged in the manufacture of bar soap in Jamaica for over 20 years and is satisfied that it has done so in full compliance with the legal and policy framework applicable in Jamaica.
“BPG has engaged the services of an attorney and is in discussions with the Government of Jamaica regarding the claim and their proposed policy response. During the legal process, BPG expects to continue to manufacture soap for the Jamaican and non-Caricom markets in the ordinary course,” the company reported in a statement released to the Jamaica Stock Exchange, where its shares are traded.
Dominica’s prime minister adds his voice to trade impasse
Dominica Prime Minister Dr Roosevelt Skerrit recently added his voice to the trade dispute while speaking about the challenges faced by his country’s biggest soap manufacturer, DCP-Successor, largely because of what he was quoted as saying are “unfair trading practices, which have been promoted in Jamaica”. He was speaking in February during a tour across all DCP-Successor’s factory, including the manufacturing and storage units
Pointing out that Dominica and Jamaica share very good relations, Skerrit is adamant about the promotion of fair trading practices, noting that the company also makes “soap chips” that are exported to Jamaica. Soap is the major export item for Dominica and generates extensive investment for the country to keep the economy afloat, while the DCP- Successor is a massive entity that employs several locals of the country.
Dr. Skerrit highlighted that the factory at DCP-Successor was closed down due to the massive hurricanes but is now under a new administration and is owned by a local Dominican.
“They have made tremendous progress thus far, notwithstanding the challenges faced largely because of unfair trading practices which have been promoted in Jamaica,” Skerrit explained.
He said the soaps being manufactured in Dominica are genuine Caricom soaps, with all of the production elements being carried out within Dominica. The prime minister acknowledged the role of DCP-Successor in the employment sector of the country, stating that all the different units of the manufacturing of soaps have employed local Dominicans, keeping many families operating.
Communique is first time alliance has asserted it needs to respond to Beijing’s growing power
Joe Biden and the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, meet during the summit in Brussels on Monday. Photograph: Stéphanie Lecocq/AFP/Getty Images
Nato leaders have declared China presents a security risk at their annual summit in Brussels, the first time the traditionally Russia-focused military alliance has asserted it needs to respond to Beijing’s growing power.
The final communique, signed off by leaders of the 30-member alliance at the urging of the new US administration, said China’s “stated ambitions and assertive behaviour present systemic challenges to the rules-based international order”.
After the summit, Joe Biden said that the US had a “sacred commitment” to come to the defence of its Nato allies in an effort to soothe residual nervousness in the wake of Donald Trump’s hostility. Biden said that his fellow leaders at the summit knew most Americans were committed to democracy and that the US was a “decent, honourable nation”.
On the question of potential Ukrainian membership of Nato, Biden said the Russian occupation of Crimea would not be an impediment, but that Ukraine still had work to do on corruption before it could join a membership action plan.
“It depends on whether they meet the criteria. The fact is, they still have to clean up corruption,” Biden said.
The Nato leaders declared their concern about China’s “coercive policies” – an apparent reference to the repression of the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang – the expansion of its nuclear arsenal and its “frequent lack of transparency and use of disinformation”.
The language, notably stronger than the China remarks contained in the G7 statement agreed on Sunday, follows lobbying and pressure by the Biden administration, seeking to create a counterweight of democratic nations in response to Beijing’s growing economic and military might.
However, Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, insisted China was “not an adversary”, saying instead the emerging strategy was to address “the challenges” posed by Beijing, which will “soon be the biggest economy in the world” and “already has the second-largest defence budget, the biggest navy”.
At the beginning of the summit, Biden said there was a growing recognition that Nato faced new challenges. “We have Russia, which is acting in a way that is not consistent with what we had hoped, and we have China.”
Nato, founded in 1949 at the start of the cold war, was created to respond to the Soviet Union and more recently Russia, while Beijing rarely posed a serious security concern for its members.
China had never previously been mentioned in a Nato summit declaration, apart from a brief reference in 2019 to the “opportunities and challenges” the country posed for members of the western alliance – a time when Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, was president.
On Sunday night, Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, promised Nato would increase its focus on Beijing, saying that China “will feature in the communique in a more robust way than we’ve ever seen before”.
Other countries have highlighted the importance of striking a balance. Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, said as he arrived at the gathering: “I think when it comes to China, I don’t think anybody around the table today wants to descend into a new cold war.”
G7 leaders criticised Beijing over human rights in its Xinjiang region, called for Hong Kong to keep a high degree of autonomy and demanded a full investigation of the origins of the coronavirus in China.
China’s embassy in London said such mentions of Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan distorted the facts and exposed the “sinister intentions of a few countries such as the United States”. It added: “China’s reputation must not be slandered.”
Stoltenberg also said the alliance’s relationship with Russia was at “its lowest point since the end of the cold war”. He blamed Russia’s “aggressive actions” for the deterioration in relations at the start of a one-day summit attended by Biden for the first time since he took office.
Alliance members had hoped for a strong statement of support for Nato from Biden after several years in which Donald Trump dominated the summits, threatening to pull out of Nato in 2018 and storming home early in 2019.
“Nato is critically important for US interests in and of itself,” Biden said as he met Stoltenberg. The president described Nato’s article 5, under which an armed attack against one member is deemed an attack against them all, as “a sacred obligation”.
He added: “I want Nato to know America is there.”
The allies denounced Moscow’s “hybrid actions”, “widespread disinformation campaigns”, “malicious cyber activities”, and election interference directed against Nato members. “Until Russia demonstrates compliance with international law and its international obligations and responsibilities, there can be no return to ‘business as usual’,” the statement said. “We will continue to respond to the deteriorating security environment by enhancing our deterrence and defence posture.”
Alliance members agreed a new cybersecurity strategy in response, and will for the first time help each other out in the case of “cyber-attacks of significance”, mirroring Nato’s obligation of collective defence in the traditional military sphere, enshrined in article 5.
Novavax COVID-19 vaccine shown highly effective in trial
Novavax revealed the results of a phase three COVID-19 vaccine trial that determined that the company’s two-dose inoculation is highly effective.
The trial found the Novavax vaccine to be 90.4 percent effective overall, and 100 percent effective in protecting against moderate and severe disease.
The vaccine was also found to be 91 percent effective among high-risk populations, defined as individuals over the age of 65, or younger if they have certain comorbidities.
The results of the trial with almost 30,000 participants across 119 sites in the U.S. and Mexico aligned with the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which saw 95 percent and 94.1 percent efficacies, respectively, in phase three clinical trials.
What’s next: Novavax, in a news release Monday morning, said it plans to file for regulatory authorizations in the third quarter, once the final phases of testing and process qualifications are met.
Upon approval, the company said it is on track to manufacture 100 million doses per month by the end of the third quarter, and 150 million per month by the end of the fourth quarter of this year.
“Novavax continues to work with a sense of urgency to complete our regulatory submissions and deliver this vaccine, built on a well understood and proven platform, to a world that is still in great need of vaccines,” Novavax President and CEO Stanley C. Erck said.
Context: The U.S. has plenty of other vaccine options, so the future of Novavax in this country is uncertain, despite the fact that the federal government paid $1.6 billion for 100 million doses under the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed.
The vaccine may be put to better use overseas, especially if the FDA decides the company needs to apply for full approval or licensure, which could slow the process down even more. But even though the company likely missed its opportunity to contribute to the first wave of vaccinations in the U.S., the nation will probably need booster shots at some point in the next year.
Biden pleads for people to get vaccinated ‘as soon as possible’
President Biden on Monday urged Americans who have not yet gotten vaccinated against the coronavirus to do so as soon as possible, pointing to the nearly 600,000 lives lost domestically from the virus.
“If you have not been vaccinated, get vaccinated. Get vaccinated as soon as possible. We have plenty of vaccinations, plenty of sites. We have more work to do to beat this virus and now is not the time to let our guard down,” Biden said.
July 4th goal in doubt: Biden has set a goal of vaccinating 70 percent of U.S. adults with at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by July 4. While 13 states have reached that threshold, others are lagging behind and Biden appears increasingly unlikely to meet that goal.
Nationally, 64.5 percent of Americans above age 18 have received at least one dose of vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The White House has embarked on a multipronged effort to address vaccine concerns, deliver doses to hard-to-reach Americans and incentivize individuals to get their shots ove the next month.
Boris Johnson has halted the final easing of lockdown restrictions in England and ordered a four-week delay to speed up the vaccination programme, but signalled afterwards he would not tolerate any further suspension.
The prime minister said 19 July was a “terminus date” and that all restrictions on social contact could be lifted, barring the emergence of a gamechanging new variant.
The chief medical officer for England, Prof Chris Whitty, suggested that within four weeks the additional jabs would offer sufficient protection to halt a surge in hospitalisations and said there would come a point where the country would be able to live with the virus in relative normality.
But Whitty and Johnson said a speeding up of second vaccine doses for the over-40s combined with a four-week delay could prevent thousands of unnecessary deaths. Although the data will be reviewed after two weeks, No 10 said it was unlikely restrictions would change.
Johnson said the data was now clear that two doses of the vaccine were needed to combat the Delta variant, first discovered in India, and said it was right to allow extra time to give millions more people second doses.
“Now is the time to ease off the accelerator, because by being cautious now we have the chance in the next four weeks to save many thousands of lives by vaccinating millions more people,” he said.
Whitty said nobody should think that from 19 July, the risk of Covid-19 would disappear – but signalled there was a point where the risks could be managed. “There will still be … substantial numbers in hospitals and sadly there will be some people who will go on to die of this – the question is a matter of balance,” he said.
“We will have to live with this virus – which will continue to cause severe infections and kill people – for the rest of our lives.”
Johnson is likely to face a significant backlash from Conservative MPs, some of whom warned that the public was reaching its limit, though polls suggest the majority back a short delay. A senior Tory MP accused the government of shifting the goalposts from making sure the NHS is not overwhelmed to avoiding all Covid-related deaths.
“I can just about tolerate this but it’s to the end of my tolerance levels,” they said, adding ministers should know: “This is it, no more – you’re out of lives.”
But a minister dismissed grumblings from colleagues, saying there was a “huge disconnect between a minority of parliamentarians making a loud noise and mainstream opinion”.
Announcing the delay, Johnson also slashed the interval between the first and second jabs from 12 weeks to eight for the over-40s, a step that has already been taken for older adults..
Hospitalisations could hit the peak of the first wave if step 4 of the roadmap proceeds, according to modelling by the government’s Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M) committee.
He warned that given a 50% rise in hospitalisations in the last week, if the current trajectory continued and restrictions were loosened “then we would run into trouble” fairly quickly.
Weddings will be given a limited reprieve with lifting of the cap at 30 guests, but venues must stick with social distancing requirements and table service. The advice will still prohibit singing and dancing.
The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has rejected business demands for an extension of the furlough scheme and business rates relief as sources close to him said he believed sufficient economic support measures were already in place to cope with a delay.
Hospitalisations have risen by 50% across England, while the north-west has recorded a rise of 61%. The vast majority of patients – over 70% – admitted to hospital are under 65, while the over-65s make up fewer than 30%.
This is a “complete reversal” of the picture during the first wave, Whitty said, pointing to the success of older people having had two vaccine doses in preventing hospitalisations.
The delay of four weeks should mean all over-40s who received a first dose by mid-May will have been offered their second dose by the week commencing 19 July when the final restrictions lift, and all over-18s will have been offered a first dose. From Tuesday, all those aged 23 and over will be offered their first dose.
Minutes from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) also reveal that a four-week delay would be advantageous because it would push the easing of restrictions closer to the school holidays, when transmission of Covid is likely to be reduced.
The prime minister, who met Sunak, Matt Hancock and Michael Gove on Sunday to agree the delay, judged two of the four tests for easing restrictions had not been met – the tests that highlight the effects of new variants as well as increases in infection rates leading to possible hospitalisations and deaths.
Ahead of the decision, Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, also held a meeting of the first ministers in the devolved administrations and a cabinet call was convened. But the decision to announce the delay at a press conference provoked ire from the House of Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who said he had had to intervene to force the government to make a statement in parliament on Monday.
‘Totally unacceptable’: Speaker condemns sidelining of Commons over England lockdown delay – video
He said the prime minister making such a significant announcement at a press conference instead of in the chamber was “totally unacceptable” and that he had been “misled” into thinking no final decisions had yet been taken.
MPs are expected to vote on the change to the roadmap on Wednesday and Labour will back the change, although there is likely to be a sizeable Conservative rebellion.
Jon Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said the delay was “predicted and predictable” and that the blame lay squarely with the prime minister. “We are here because Boris Johnson left our borders as secure as a sieve with a weak, puny border policy that allowed the Delta variant to reach our shores.”
He confirmed Labour would support the extending of restrictions to 19 July “with a heavy heart” when a vote is held in the Commons on Wednesday.
On Monday, Public Health England also released encouraging data suggesting Covid jabs appeared to offer substantial protection against hospitalisation from the Delta variant. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is 94% effective against hospital admission after one dose, rising to 96% after two doses. The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is 71% effective against hospital admission after one dose, rising to 92% after two.
The United States will grant $115 million in cooperation aid to El Salvador to slow migration from the Central American country, Samantha Power, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), said on Monday.
“We can work with local partners in Central America to expand opportunities for youth and help them get away from violence,” Power said at a conference on migration at the Central American University, where she announced the aid initiative.
The money will include $50 million for security, $35 million for programs to counter violence against women and $30 million in job training, Power said.
USAID says it will also contribute $12 million for small and medium-sized businesses in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador that were affected by coronavirus-related lockdowns.
The Biden administration has pledged to invest $4 billion to address the root causes of migration from Central America.
The Brazilian government on Monday authorized the employment of the National Security Force (FNS) to protect the Yanomami indigenous people and their reservation lands for 90 days in the northern state of Roraima bordering Venezuela.
The measure by the Justice Ministry published in the official gazette follows increasing attacks with firearms by illegal wildcat gold miners who have invaded Yanomami lands on Brazil’s largest reservation.
More than 20,000 miners are illegally prospecting on the reservation and polluting rivers with mercury used to separate gold from ore.
Since the beginning of the year, there have been at least eight attacks by miners on Yanomami communities.
Last month, men on a speed boat shot at a village with an automatic weapon. Community leaders said the attack was aimed at intimidating the Yanomami who have tried to block miners coming up the rivers.
Supreme Court Justice Luis Roberto Barroso in May ordered the government of right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro to take immediate steps to protect the Yanomami, but little had been done so far.
The Yanomami are one of Brazil’s most isolated people. An estimated 26,700 live on a reservation larger than Portugal that has been protected by law since 1992, extending from the Amazon jungle to the savannah region of Roraima.
Bolsonaro has criticized Brazil’s 850,000 indigenous people for holding too much land protected against poachers and loggers. He favors allowing commercial agriculture and mining on indigenous land. Congress is considering legislation to allow that to happen.
The FNS is a special federal force made up of members of the military police seconded by Brazil’s states and called on to provided security in exceptional cases.
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The U.S. is confronted with an ever-growing surplus of coronavirus vaccine, looming expiration dates and stubbornly lagging demand at a time when the developing world is clamoring for doses to stem a rise in infections.
Cash prizes, free beer and marijuana, raffled-off hunting rifles and countless other giveaways around the country have failed to significantly move the needle on vaccine hesitancy, raising the specter of new outbreaks.
Millions of Johnson & Johnson doses nationwide were set to expire this month before the government extended their dates by six weeks, but some leaders acknowledge it will be difficult to use them up even by then.
“We really cannot let doses expire. That would be a real outrage, given the need to get vaccines to some under-vaccinated communities in the U.S. and the glaring gap in vaccinations and the inequity of vaccinations that we have globally,” said Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, chair of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco.
President Joe Biden wants to have 70% of the adult U.S. population at least partially vaccinated by July 4. But the U.S. could well fail to meet that target. As of Friday, 64% of Americans 18 and older had had at least one dose, by the CDC’s count.
Some states, especially in the Northeast, have already reached that 70% goal for adults, while places like Mississippi and Alabama are nowhere close. Mississippi, in fact, has been transferring large quantities of vaccines to other states and the federal government.
Among the countries that will receive vaccines from America, is Jamaica where just some eight percent of the population has been vaccinated.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness, says he welcomes the United States’ commitment to donate vaccines to Latin America and the Caribbean.
“We welcome the announcement of the United States President [Joseph] Biden and his administration to make available some of their vaccines for the region,” Holness said.
“Certainly, it will not be enough even in the first instance to satisfy our total demand to bring us to herd immunity, but we welcome it and appreciate it as a continuing example for rich countries who have surpluses to make them available right across the world, right across the globe, not necessarily entirely by grant, but certainly available for purchase,” Mr. Holness said.
The Prime Minister also said Jamaica has put aside the fiscal resources to purchase the vaccines that are needed.
The Caribbean Association of Banks (CAB) has joined the ranks of organisations that have come to the aid of the Government and people of St Vincent and the Grenadines in the aftermath of explosive eruptions at the La Soufriere Volcano.
The donation of $60,000 Eastern Caribbean dollars to the Government was made earlier this week. On hand to receive it was Acting Prime Minister Montgomery Daniel and Minister of Finance Camillo Gonsalves.
Managing Director of Bank of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Derry Williams, handed over the cheque while CEO of CAB, Wendy Delmar, Cooperate Secretary of BOSVG, Nandi Williams, Director of NEMO Michelle Forbes and other Caribbean members of CAB witnessed the handing over which took place virtually and in person.
CEO of CAB, Wendy Delmar, stated that she was pleased and encouraged by the outpouring of support given by member states to St Vincent and the Grenadines in the wake of the La Soufriere eruption. The monetary donation is part of CAB’s care initiative.
Minister of Finance Camillo Gonsalves stated that the region has been impacted significantly by natural disasters recently with immense cost to individual nations, noting that the La Soufriere eruptions have damaged in excess of 50 per cent of the GDP of SVG.
The finance minister said that it is entities such as the CAB which show the solidarity and strength of regional integration.
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