BBC- US President Joe Biden has put Vice-President Kamala Harris in charge of controlling migration at the southern border following a big influx of new arrivals.
Mr Biden said he was giving her a “tough job” but that she was “the most qualified person to do it”.
The numbers of people arriving have grown since Mr Biden took office.
They include hundreds of unaccompanied minors who are being held in immigration detention facilities.
Mr Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, was widely criticised over his government’s treatment of young migrants at the US-Mexico border.
Since January, the Biden administration has reversed a policy of turning away unaccompanied children, instead choosing to process them and place them with sponsoring families in the US.
But Mr Biden’s critics say his policies have led to a surge in illegal migration.
Announcing Ms Harris’s appointment as his immigration czar, Mr Biden told reporters and officials at the White House: “She’s the most qualified person to do it, to lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle [Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador], and the countries that are going to need help in stemming the movement of so many folks – stemming the migration to our southern border”.
Mr Biden said Ms Harris’s past work as California’s attorney general made her well suited to leading the effort, adding: “When she speaks, she speaks for me.”
In response Ms Harris said: “Needless to say, the work will not be easy. But it is important work.”
President Biden said he was giving his second-in-command “a tough job”
Many of those arriving at the border have fled poverty and violence in Central America.
In an interview with CBS on Wednesday, Ms Harris said there was a need “to deal with the root causes… of what’s happening in the Northern Triangle”.
“Dealing with what we need to do around aid in a way that is about developing those countries so that we also deal with the cause of why people are coming into our country,” she said.
São Paulo (CNN) It took only 10 days from start to finish, from the time 28-year-old Graciane da Silva got sick to the time she died.
She was alone when she passed away in a Rio de Janeiro Hospital — her mom, Maria da Penha da Silva Siqueira, thinks about that often.
“It never crossed our mind that it would happen to her,” said da Silva Siqueira. “It was too fast. This virus does not let us say goodbye.”
Da Silva, who left behind a 4-year-old son, died of Covid-19 in June of last year. At the time, hers was a slightly more unusual death.
During the first part of Brazil’s struggle with the coronavirus, it was the elderly who made up the majority of those who were getting sick and dying from Covid-19.
But since the new year, Brazil has descended into its worst days of this pandemic so far. Daily death and case numbers have shattered previous records.
And amid that surge, a worrying pattern has emerged—more young people seem to be getting severely ill and dying from Covid-19, doctors tell CNN.
The question is why: Is a new variant infecting more young people and making them sicker? Are young people behaving in ways that make them more likely to become infected? Could it be some combination of both?
ICU doctors: Our patients keep getting younger
Across the country, intensive care physicians keep saying the same thing: In this latest wave, their patients are younger than ever.
“We have otherwise healthy patients that are between 30 and 50-years-old and that is the profile for the majority of patients,” said Dr. Pedro Archer, a 33 year-old intensive care physician at a public hospital in Rio de Janeiro. “That is the big differentiator in this latest wave.”
CNN has spoken to nearly a dozen ICU physicians and nurses since mid-January, across multiple hospitals in several Brazilian states. Each said their ICU beds are filled with more young people than ever.
“The numbers of serious infections are much higher than in the first wave,” said ICU Dr. Luan Matos de Menezes back in January, speaking to CNN near a public hospital in the Amazonian city of Manaus. “You can tell their conditions are much more critical.”
Brazil’s Health Ministry publishes national statistics on the ages of Covid-19 victims. An AFP analysis of data from that ministry found the number of people aged 30-59 represented about 27% of Covid-19 deaths over the past three months or so — a 7% increase from pre-December numbers.
Brazil’s death toll now has passed 300,000, 2nd only to the United States.
The AFP also found the share of the death toll for those aged 60 and over fell by 7% in that same time period. CNN has not independently verified the analysis.
State health officials in São Paulo, Brazil’s most populous state, said earlier this month that anecdotal testimony from doctors across the country about the severity of cases in younger people is backed up by their data.
Officials said 60% of younger patients with Covid-19 needed ICU beds, a higher figure than earlier in the pandemic.
For doctors, watching younger patients die is especially brutal.
“Death for a person in their 30’s is very, very painful,” said Dr. Maria Dolores da Silva, a 42-year veteran of intensive care medicine in São Paulo. “They have their whole lives ahead of them and Covid takes it.”
What’s to blame?
The increase in both illness and death in younger people has coincided with the rise of at least one Covid-19 variant in Brazil.
The so-called P.1 variant, which scientists say originated from Brazil, is widely agreed upon to be more easily transmissible, up to 2.2 times so according to a recent study.
According to a March 4 study of eight Brazilian states by national health research institute Fiocruz, over half of all Covid-19 cases in six states were “associated with variants of concern” including P.1, as well as variants first identified in the UK and South Africa.
First appearing at the end of last year, multiple doctors speculated the P1 variant has something to do with the shift in demographics among the sick. But it’s far too early to know what role exactly this variant is playing.
“It’s possible that these new variants are more lethal but we don’t have scientific data to confirm that,” said Jesem Orellana, a Brazilian epidemiologist. “But what we do know is that the P.1 variant is more transmissible and that plays a big part in this second wave.”
Experts also point to an increase in parties around the new year and Carnival holidays in the first part of the year. Younger people taking part in parties may simply have been more exposed as of late.
Videos of illegal gatherings are very easy to find online and authorities in cities across the country are writing imposing fines and breaking up parties every single weekend.
“You have a much more transmissible virus going around,” said Brazilian microbiologist Natalia Pasternak. “It’s going to infect more people, including more young people. [The surge] may just be an epidemiological effect of having so many more people infected at the same time.”
And although Brazil’s vaccine rollout program has been plagued with delays, it is moving ahead slowly with the elderly as its priority. The more older people get vaccinated, experts say, the more skewed case and death numbers could be toward the young.
It’s an effect that Maria da Penha da Silva Siqueira feels acutely nearly every day. It’s been nine months since she lost her daughter too young but sometimes, she says, it feels like yesterday.
“When my grandson, her son, sees the stars, he says that she is there. This week, he told my sister that he wanted to visit heaven so he could see his mom.”
Reporting contributed by Marcia Reverdosa and Eduardo Duwe.
(CNN) Everyone seems to agree that Haiti needs change. The question of how to get there is tearing the country apart.
After a tumultuous four years in office marked by mass protests, political gridlock, gas shortages, economic pain, and a grim surge in kidnappings, Haitian President Jovenel Moise is staking his legacy on a series of nationwide votes planned for this year: a summer referendum to overhaul the Caribbean nation’s constitution, and general elections in the fall.
According to Moise’s government, the elections will guarantee a peaceful transfer of power to his successor, and the new constitution will empower that successor to solve problems that Moise could not. These plans are backed by powerful voices in the international community, including the United Nations
But opposition leaders — who like many legal experts believe Moise has already overstayed his welcome — say the whole process is a farce. They point out that the President could have organized elections earlier to fill the country’s vacant parliament, but instead chose to rule by decree for more than a year, fueling skepticism that the elections will be free and fair. Plus, the current constitution expressly forbids making changes by referendum.
Nevertheless, in an interview last week with CNN, Haiti’s elections minister, Mathias Pierre, said the government would forge ahead. “As President Moise has said, elected leaders have to hand power to another elected leader, and we’re going to do everything that we can to organize the election, and give that power to the people with the ballot,” he said.
‘He had to wait until parliament because dysfunctional’
Pierre said the President’s often unilateral decision-making — which critics say violates the country’s democracy — is necessary for the greater good of holding elections.
“There’s no way to organize an election without a law to hold election, and an electoral council. Those two had been blocked by the previous parliament, so he had to wait until the parliament became dysfunctional to get into the process through an executive order, because you can’t have executive orders while there’s a parliament,” Pierre said.
Failing to hold elections would result in “chaos” with no clear leader next year, he warned.
The minister also defended the constitutional referendum planned for June 27. The current constitution creates confusion and political logjams, he emphasized, and argued that a new constitution is a necessary precondition for holding general elections in September, describing the current electoral system as overcomplicated and too expensive for Haiti.
“The (current) constitution allows multiple elections, like congressmen being elected for four years and senators, some elected for two years … and then we have the president elected for five years. All these elections, no resources to organize them,” he said.
The new proposed Constitution would reduce the number of elected officials in Haiti from 6,844 to just 931 and streamline term limits for all positions to 5 years, he said.
The Haitian public has been invited to review and debate the proposed constitutional changes, which among other things would offer greater political representation to the Haitian diaspora and restructure the legislative branch.
Reserving parliamentary seats for women
More changes may be in the works that could also dramatically affect the outcome of the parliamentary elections, Pierre said.
He is working on a draft provision for the new constitution that would force the government to set aside 35% of parliamentary seats for women, he said. Though yet to be submitted for inclusion in the new constitution, this could theoretically produce major change in a country with one of the lowest rates of women’s political representation in the world.
“The ideal would be to follow the steps of Rwanda. You know Rwanda is one of the countries that has created so-called “reserve seats” for women and Rwanda today is the only country with more women in the parliament than men,” Pierre said.
Haiti’s current constitution already calls for women to be represented on all levels of government by a minimum of 30% — but with no laws instructing the country on how to implement this measure, it has never been enforced.
Reserving seats only for female candidates could change that, though there remain steep disadvantages for women in Haitian politics, including security concerns and sexist treatment by media and opponents.
“In a country with a patriarchal culture, it can be very difficult for women to get elected unless they have reserve seats,” Pierre said. “For the new reserve seats, all political parties will have to register only women candidates to participate in the vote.”
Gabrielle Bardall, an elections expert who consulted with several international organizations last year on how to implement Haiti’s gender quota, told CNN it is an opportunity to correct a longstanding violation of the current constitution — despite criticisms of the referendum’s legitimacy.
“This is as good of a time as any to show that it is possible,” she said, adding that the currently vacant Parliament could even present a unique opportunity.
“If you have 100% men in parliament, and you’re not going to change the parliament size or anything like that, then you have a bunch of male incumbents that don’t want to give up the seats. But there’s no parliament now. So you don’t have the same tradeoff with incumbents.”
‘No legitimate candidate will participate’
It’s unclear who will ultimately participate in the two votes. Pierre said he would be content with around 1 million votes cast — a low number for a country with an estimated population of 11 million, but consistent with past voter participation.
Meanwhile, security concerns for both candidates and voters haunt any attempt to predict turnout this year, and opposition leaders have already vowed to boycott the whole process.
“No legitimate candidate will participate,” said anti-corruption activist Emmanuela Douyon, who leads the think tank Policité Haiti.
Instead, she and other government critics are working to propose a new transitional government to shepherd the election process — a solution that she pointed out has been supported by the international community in other countries where the executive has lost confidence, like Venezuela.
As for the constitutional referendum, Douyon said this is no time to meddle with it.
“It would be better to have an election and let the new elected government have discussion to see whether or not we want to change the constitution. The priority now is to have a parliament, to have democratic order,” she said.
It’s an opinion shared by the President of the National Association of Haitian Judges, Jean Wilner Morin.
Morin tells CNN that as a judge, he says, he cannot criticize the government’s decision to hold a referendum, in order to maintain impartiality for any future potential case that comes before him.
But as a lawyer, he doesn’t believe a new constitution will solve much, considering that “the constitution that is currently in force in Haiti has never been applied or respected,” he said. “The emergency in Haiti is not a new constitution but the establishment of rule of law and good governance, while prioritizing strict respect for the constitution.”
Pragmatism versus principles
Asked to address credibility concerns around the referendum and election, Pierre pointed beyond Haiti’s borders. He is working with the United Nations Development Programme, and the United Nations Office for Project Services, and has invited the Organization of American States to send election monitoring teams.
“The idea is for these institutions who have experience in organizing elections in Haiti…to provide technical support and assistance and logistical support to the electoral council,” Pierre said. The government also hopes to galvanize public support by working to get buy-in from the Catholic Church, a powerful institution in the country, he added.
“Now we need our people from the opposition, the political leaders to understand we need to have an election. Elections should be a must. Certainly I understand their concerns. Where should we address those concerns? On the table of negotiation,” he said.
But Douyon says the government’s international partners can’t confer confidence in the process — and have themselves lost credibility by standing with President Moise.
Anyone who asks the country to participate in elections organized without full democratic and legal protocol is “telling the Haitian people we don’t deserve better,” she added.
“This is the kind of signal we don’t want to send to the kids who are going to study Haitian history.”
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — A Honduran company said Tuesday that it had no intention of illegally bringing several thousand COVID-19 doses into the country when Mexican customs officials found them on a private plane last week.
Grupo Karim’s said in a statement that the vaccine was not intended to be sold in Honduras, but rather to be given free to its employees and their families. The company said its employees had been hit hard by the pandemic and it was looking for a way to help them.
Customs agents and soldiers found 1,155 vials containing more than 5,700 doses inside two coolers packed with ice and sodas at the airport in Campeche. The crew and Honduran passengers were turned over to the Attorney General’s Office.
Mexican officials did not identify the doses as fake, but the Russian Direct Investment Fund said in a statement Thursday that after reviewing photographs of the packaging, they determined the vaccine to be fake.
Grupo Karim’s did not offer any details about the vaccine’s purchase or its authenticity. The company has 20,000 direct employees.
A source in the Honduran aviation industry, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the case, confirmed that Grupo Karim’s had rented the plane in San Pedro Sula.
Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office continues to investigate the vaccine seizure. A federal official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation remained open, said Tuesday that the contents of the vaccine vials continued and that no one was in custody.
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, March 24, 2021 (PLP PR Media Inc.) — Under the theme ‘Together: Empowering and Uniting People; Rebuilding our Economy’, the Peoples Labour Party (PLP) will be holding its annual National Convention on Saturday March 27 at the Ottley’s Playing Field in Constituency Number Seven.
According to the party’s National Chairman, Mr Warren Thompson, the meeting featuring the public session of the National Convention will be held from 4:00 pm under strict Covid-19 protocol. The convention’s private session will however be held a day earlier on Friday March 26, at the Royal St. Kitts Hotel Conference Room from 6:00 pm.
The party’s membership, which last year because of the prevailing coronavirus pandemic missed the opportunity to take part in the PLP’s hugely popular conventions which are taken to the people, is looking forward to seeing National Political Leader and Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris, and the Deputy National Political Leader and Federal Cabinet Minister the Hon Akilah Byron-Nisbett on stage.
When the party held its inaugural National Convention in 2017, and the follow-up conventions in 2018 and 2019, the Deputy National Political Leader, was a Senator as a nominated member of the National Assembly. She will now be attending the 2021 National Convention of the Peoples Labour Party as a duly elected member of the National Assembly, having been successfully elected to parliament at the June 5, 2020 National Elections.
“Our party convention is this month on the 27th of March, and this will be at Ottley’s Playing Field,” announced PLP National Chairman Mr Warren Thompson when he recently addressed members of PLP Constituency Number One Branch at the New Town Community Centre. “We take our conventions to the people and we were, as a party, the first to do such.”
A member of the ruling tri-party Team Unity coalition, the Peoples Labour Party which was established in 2013 held its first National Convention in 2017 at the Tabernacle Recreation Grounds, and the second and third Annual National Convention in 2018 and 2019 at the Patsy Allers Playing Ground in Constituency Number Three. However, due to the prevailing coronavirus epidemic the party did not hold the National Convention last year.
“For the past conventions we have had over six hundred people, the biggest ever in the Federation of all parties,” observed Mr Thompson. “This time around we have to cut back a bit because of the Covid. So we have to be careful and mindful, and that is why again we are back on the open field in Ottley’s, where people can be around and at the same time social distancing and other Covid-19 protocols can be adhered to.”
Mr Thompson explained that a tent big enough to spaciously hold about 150 persons will be erected, while in observance of the Covid-19 protocols others outside that number will be expected to use the concrete bleachers on the playing field.
Mr Thompson further explained that at a recent PLP National Executive meeting it was decided that the private session would be held a day earlier on Friday March 26, as there would not be enough time to hold the two sessions on Saturday March 27, the day of the National Convention. It will be held at the Royal St. Kitts Hotel Conference Room from 6:00 pm.
“The private session is where party members – the delegates from each constituency will gather and we deal with the party business,” observed Mr Thompson. “We normally have 35 delegates from each constituency. This year we have to cut it back because of the Covid. So we are now down to 12 delegates from each constituency this year.”
Monday, March 22, 2021 — On Thursday, February 25, 2021, the USAID/OECS Juvenile Justice Reform Project (JJRP) held a virtual town hall meeting to sensitize youth and youth groups about child justice reform and how they can play a greater role in reform efforts.
In addition to the USAID and Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) speakers, representatives from JJRP, UNICEF, and Grand Bacolet Rehabilitation and Treatment Centre in Grenada presented on several issues including:
The rights of children in conflict with the law
How the new Juvenile Justice legislation impacts youth
How youth can be rehabilitated and reintegrated into the community
How to get involved with youth in conflict with the law
Chloe Noble, General Development Specialist, USAID Eastern and Southern Caribbean, who delivered remarks during the event, commended the JJRP for positively engaging the region’s youth in juvenile justice reform. She also thanked the youth and youth groups for attending the town hall and seizing the opportunity to learn more about Juvenile Justice in the Eastern Caribbean. She added,
“All of you gathered here today will be an important part of making sure that long-term, coordinated support for youth in the justice systems occurs. This Town Hall is one additional step in involving youth in this work.”
Dr. Carlene Radix, OECS Head of Human and Social Division, reflecting on her involvement in the event shared:
“The Youth Virtual Town was an important avenue to engage the youth in the region, to share information and generate dialogue and understanding of the key issues. We were pleased to have 58 people attending this virtual workshop with representation from youth and youth groups from all six OECS Member States. The discussion was relevant and insightful, with youth seeking real and practical strategies to support their peers who end up in conflict with the law.”
One of the attendees of the Youth Virtual Town Hall, Raejean Montoute, CARICOM Youth Ambassador for Saint Lucia, and President of the Gros Islet North Youth and Sports Council spoke of the benefits of the Town Hall.
”It was very informative to hear the various speakers highlighting the different elements of Juvenile Justice Reform as it helps us to better understand the key issues. I am looking forward to seeing more coming out of the Juvenile Justice Reform Project to assist us youth groups, as we seek to support child justice reform and troubled youth in our communities.”
About OECS/USAID Juvenile Justice Reform Project Phase II (JJRP)
The Juvenile Justice Reform Project (JJRP) Phase II, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and being implemented by the OECS Commission, deals specifically with children in conflict with the law and the provision of diversion, rehabilitation and reintegration mechanisms for assisting children in the six (6) OECS independent Member States of Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Over the four years of JJRP Phase II, some key achievements include:
Child Justice legislation passed in Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
A legacy model and framework to guide the use of diversion, rehabilitation and reintegration has been developed and is being adopted in all of the countries.
Diversion and rehabilitation options being actively supported within partner countries.
Since 2016, Over 440 children have been diverted/given alternatives from arrest or custodial sentences.
Over 220 children in conflict with the law completed Aggression Replacement Training (ART®).
Over 1,400 service providers have been trained to improve the diversion, rehabilitation, and reintegration services provided to children in conflict with the law and their families.
Prince Harry has joined the corporate world as chief impact officer of employee coaching and mental health firm BetterUp Inc. The financial terms of his employment were undisclosed.
BetterUp, based in San Francisco, works with employees from companies including Mars, AB InBev and LinkedIn on coaching and mental health services.
BetterUp CEO Alexi Robichaux said the Duke of Sussex is a good fit for the company because of “his model of inspiration and impact through action.”
Robichaux cited Harry’s efforts founding the Invictus Games, which gives sick and injured military personnel and veterans the opportunity to compete in sports, and founding Sentebale, an Africa-based charity supporting young people affected by HIV.
Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, have been working on detangling their lives from the British royal family and are living in California. They signed a deal to create content for Netflix and are creating podcasts for Spotify.
In a blog post, Harry said he is joining BetterUp because he believes in the company’s mission of being proactive about mental health.
“Being attuned with your mind, and having a support structure around you, are critical to finding your own version of peak performance,” he wrote.
Respected actor George Segal has died at age 87 after complications due to surgery on March 23, 2021. Segal’s acting career spanned more than 60 years.
Segal is known for his wide range of roles, from the beloved actor’s Oscar-nominated role in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? to the 1977 comedy Fun With Dick and Jane to his latest TV series, The Goldbergs. Many in Hollywood reacted to the news.
Adam F. Goldberg responded to the news of Segal’s death with an emotional tweet about the actor. Goldberg cast Segal to play the Jewish family patriarch Albert “Pops” Solomon in his ABC hit series, The Goldbergs. The producer posted photos of Segal and tweeted, “By pure destiny, I ended up casting the ideal man to play Pops. Much like my grandfather, George was a child at heart using a magic spark.”
Sonia Segal, the TV and movie star’s wife, announced his death in a statement. Segal’s wife said (via ABC News), “The family is devastated to announce that this morning George Segal passed away due to complications from bypass surgery.”
The Hollywood Reporter called Segal “the leading man of light hearted comedies.” Most of his younger fans know him for his television work. Segal played Jack Gallo on the NBC comedy series starring David Spade, Just Shoot Me (1997 to 2003), and appeared on ABC’s The Goldbergs (2013-present).
As mentioned, the actor was nominated for an Oscar for his work in the film Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Segal’s co-stars Sandy Dennis, Elizabeth Taylor, and Richard Burton were all nominated for Oscars for the legendary movie as well. Segal was the last surviving member of the cast (via ABC News).
Some with wheelchairs, walkers and canes, eligible Bahamians anxious to get their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine lined up outside Loyola Hall yesterday morning.
Healthcare workers, uniformed officers, everyone 60 and over, and caregivers accompanying the elderly are eligible for the vaccine.
Miriam Emmanuel, 64, proudly sported her “I got the COVID-19 vaccine” sticker as she walked towards her vehicle yesterday.
Emmanuel, not to be confused with the MICAL MP, said she has underlying conditions that put her at a higher risk of severe COVID-19 symptoms, and said being stuck at home for the past year was becoming overbearing.
“I have pre-existing conditions, and I feel like for me to be comfortable and to move about freely, the best thing to do is be vaccinated,” she said.
“I am not listening to all the talks on social media,” she said.
“People have their own opinions. I listen to science, the professionals.”
Emmanuel said she is encouraging everyone to get vaccinated.
“I encourage those persons who have doubts to just take the doubts out of their minds and just come down and be vaccinated because it can save lives,” she said.
She added, “One of my friends was supposed to come this morning but her daughter discouraged her. But once I get home, I’m going to call her and I’ll let her know it’s nothing to be afraid of.”
Scores of people were inside Loyola Hall in various stages of the process when The Guardian walked through.
Edison “Fast Eddie” Dames receives his COVID-19 vaccine from Nurse Jacqueline Davis-Jones during the vaccine rollout for senior citizens at Loyola Hall on Gladstone Road yesterday. AHVIA J. CAMPBELL
People with appointments waited in chairs just inside the hall before proceeding to the registration room, then to the stations where the vaccines were administered, and finally to a holding room, where they were observed for 15 minutes before being allowed to leave.
By midday yesterday, the queue had extended out the doors of the hall, where more than a dozen people were awaiting entry into the building.
St. Anne’s MP Brent Symonette, who was volunteering with Rotary to help manage the registration process, apologized to those waiting, explaining that there was a small backlog at the time.
Symonette, who was taking temperatures at the entrance and ushering people in, said he took the vaccine himself a few days ago and has been fine since then.
Many Bahamians have expressed skepticism over the vaccine. With only 20,000 doses in the country, the rollout was initially limited to frontline workers. But the government quickly expanded rollout to the elderly only days after it began due to the low turnout.
Chief Superintendent of Police Matthew Edgecombe, 55, said he believes getting vaccinated is the wise thing to do.
“Listening to all the persons talk about it and the doctors, that’s the wise thing to do, to get vaccinated,” Edgecombe said as he walked towards his vehicle.
“And I work in an area, law enforcement, and we come into contact with a lot of persons. So far, so good. I haven’t gotten the virus. I encourage all my colleagues to come out and get [the vaccine]. I told my office staff to come out and get it.”
Edgecombe said he believes more officers will get vaccinated.
“The officers are lining up,” he said.
“They want to get it.
“…They know it’s wise and they know it’s the right thing to do.”
He added, “I don’t see the big risk in it. I see a risk in not doing it.”
Senior Nursing Officer Sherry Armbrister said she has noticed an increase in the turnout of healthcare workers this week.
Asked if it was disappointing that more healthcare workers haven’t shown up for the vaccine, Armbrister said, “Yes, it is. But we have also seen an increase in our healthcare workers coming to get their vaccinations.”
Armbrister said they have been vaccinating more than 500 people a day.
John Turnquest, 73, said he got vaccinated because he wants to keep living his life.
“I love life,” he said.
“I love living and I want to be sure that whatever is good for me to keep me that way [I do it].”
“I don’t see why people wouldn’t want to take it, but you know I’m looking out for me.”
Turnquest said the process was smooth and efficient.
“I sat down and was waiting for them to give me the shot, and I said, ‘When are you going to start?’ And she said, ‘Well you’re finished,’” he said.
Wellington Davis, a petty officer in the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, was among those waiting in the holding area following his jab.
“I did a lot of study on it, a lot of reading,” he said, reflecting on his decision to get vaccinated.
“My sister is a nurse and she kept me up-to-date and I just came out and took it.”
While he admitted he was nervous, Davis said the process was smooth and fast, and he said he felt “great” afterward.
“Come out and roll your sleeves up and take it,” he said.
Deidre Woods, 70, said she is looking forward to being able to return to a more normal life.
“I feel liberated,” she said.
“I am pleased because now I can live a normal life instead of being in a bullpen.”
Woods added, “I couldn’t eat in a restaurant. I liked taking my grandchildren out to eat and taking them out places and there was nowhere to go. I got tired of that. So, I decided to get the vaccine when the Indians gave it to us. I trust the Indians.”
Woods said she believes widespread vaccine hesitancy in The Bahamas is due to misinformation.
“[People] need to recognize that it’s for their health,” she said.
“We took vaccines when we were young. We had to take vaccines to go to school. I am a world traveler. I’ve been all over the world, and many countries I went to, I had to be vaccinated to go. You couldn’t go without the vaccinations. So, I’m used to vaccines.”
Joseph Lewis, 66, had been waiting anxiously to be able to get the vaccine.
“One of the things I said to my family was that as soon as it was introduced to The Bahamas, I wanted to be second in line,” he said.
“I heard the prime minister say he was going to be the first, so I wanted to be number two.”
Jodie Lewis, his daughter, who is a health worker, said she wanted to get the vaccine as soon as she could to protect her family.
“I live in a house filled with high-risk people,” she said.
“So, I wanted to make sure that we were all able to get the vaccine so that we don’t end up having any issues down the line.”
She added, “I had no fears. I just wanted to take it. I know that other people have taken it.”
Dr. Michael Gerassimos, 89, said he was “feeling great” as he walked out of Loyola Hall yesterday.
“It was fine,” he said.
“[The nurse] had sweet hands, as one of my patients put it some time ago.”
His caretaker, Jacqueline Deryckere, also received her first dose of the vaccine yesterday.
Colombo- Sri Lanka has established diplomatic relations with Saint Kitts and Nevis, the two-island federation in the Caribbean with effect from March 22.
The Government of Sri Lanka and the Government of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis in accordance with the interests and desires of the peoples of both countries have decided to establish diplomatic relations between the two countries with effect from 22 March 2021, the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the UN in New York said.
Both Governments have agreed to further augment the existing friendly relations and cooperation in the political, socio-economic and cultural fields, for the mutual benefit of the two countries, based on the principles of mutual respect of both countries’ sovereignty and territorial integrity.
