Haiti has no covid vaccine doses as brutality rises larger than the pandemic
So far, Haiti is slated to receive only 756,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through a United Nations program to ensure the neediest countries get Covid-19 shots. It doesn’t have a single vaccine to offer its more than 11 million people over a year after the pandemic began, raising concerns among health experts that Haitians' wellbeing is being pushed aside as violence and political instability across the country deepens.
Free doses of the vaccine were scheduled to arrive in May at the latest. Still, delays are expected because Haiti missed a deadline, and the key Indian manufacturer is now prioritizing an increase in domestic demand. Haiti’s lack of vaccines comes as it reports more than 12,700 cases and 250 deaths, which experts believe are underreported.
Many poorer countries have long waits to get Covax vaccines as richer countries snapped up supplies, though most have received an initial shipment. Some took matters into their own hands, securing shots through donations and private deals.
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, a Geneva-based public-private partnership that is co-managing the UN-backed Covax effort, said, “Haiti has only recently completed some of the essential documentation that are prerequisites for processing of a shipping order.”
A human rights research center cited in a new US state department report found Haiti’s government misappropriated more than $1m worth of coronavirus aid. The report also accused government officials of spending $34m in the “greatest opacity,” bypassing an agency charged with approving state contracts.
According to the Pan American Health Organization, the country also didn’t apply for a pilot program in which it would have received some of its allotted doses early. However, a spokeswoman commended its other pandemic efforts, including reinforcing hospital preparedness.
General director of Haiti’s health ministry Lauré Adrien blamed the vaccine delay on scrutiny of the AstraZeneca shots stating that his agency prefers a single-dose vaccine. AstraZeneca requires two doses.
Adrien also noted all the money his agency received had been properly spent but said he could not speak for other agencies. A presidential spokesman did not return calls for comment.
Ongoing protests and a spike in kidnappings and gang-related killings have some wondering how any vaccine will be administered given the lack of stability coupled with a growing number of people afraid to leave their homes.
While face masks remain mandatory at Haitian businesses, airport closures and curfews have long been lifted, and other precautions are rare.
“People don’t believe in the coronavirus; the only customers nowadays are those who need a mask to enter a nearby grocery store; people worry more about violence than the virus,” said Esther Racine, a 26-year-old mother of two boys. She began selling face masks at the beginning of the pandemic, doing brisk business with some 800 sales a month. Now, she barely sells 200.
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