Caribbean countries lament adverse effects
of COVID-19 pandemic on their economies
By Nelson A. King
With the week-long 76th Session of
the United Nations General Assembly
Debate concluding on Monday, Caribbean
Community (CARICOM) Heads of
Government and Foreign Affairs Ministers
ensured their voices were well heard,
as they lamented the dire, adverse effects
of the COVID-19 pandemic on their
respective economies.
They, unequivocally, capitalized on
this year’s General Assembly theme,
“Building resilience through hope — to
recover from COVID-19, rebuild sustainably,
respond to the needs of the planet,
respect the rights of people, and revitalize
the United Nations.”
Jamaica Prime Minister, Andrew Holness
said the COVID-19 pandemic has
exacerbated challenges in restoring the
health and well-being of citizens, especially
for Small Island Developing States
(SIDS), like his own, which already face
limited resources in the health sector.
“Most regrettably, many lives have
been lost and we extend condolences,” he
said. “There are increasing uncertainties
as the pandemic continues and new variants
emerge.”
The Jamaican leader said while mitigation
efforts to help to reduce transmission
and mortality remain crucial, the
long-term solution must be vaccines that
are accessible to all.
“We know that vaccines only work if
a critical threshold is attained,” he said.
“Sharing vaccines in a strategic manner
serves the global common good, as no
country will be safe until all are safe.”
He said Jamaica supports a globally
coordinated approach to the scaling up
of production and equitable distribution
of vaccines, “with the United Nations at
the core.”
“We welcome the support received
from bilateral and international partners
and through the COVAX Facility,” said
the prime minister, stating that
COVAX was conceived as “an expression
of multilateralism, bringing widespread
aspirations of hope in the collective
approach.
“To date, however, it has not met
expectations, as its noble ideals have
been displaced by nationalistic endeavors,
ironically, at a time when a pandemic
requires global coordinated action,” he
lamented. “Notwithstanding, we believe
in the essential merits of the facility
and call for urgent, increased international
collaboration to avoid the widening
gap in recovery across countries and
regions.”
Belize Prime Minister John Briceño
declared that the COVID-19 pandemic
has brought the Belizean economy to its
“knees”.
In his maiden address to the United
Nations General Assembly, Briceño told
the 76th Session Debate that his country’s
unemployment rate has reached 30
Caribbean L 22 ife, OCTOBER 1-7, 2021
percent, “as thousands of Belizeans lost
their jobs.”
He said the gross domestic product
(GDP) declined by 14 percent, the debt
has “ballooned to 130 percent of GDP,”
and that “many businesses were shuttered,
the poverty rate increased to 60
percent, (and) “the impact of the pandemic
has been swift, dramatic and devastating.”
The Belize prime minister said the
human toll has been “deadly,” disclosing
that already 399 Belizeans have lost their
lives to COVID-19.
“We have a fatality rate of 2.05 percent,”
he said. “Thousands have been
hospitalized so far. “Our health facilities
are overwhelmed as they were unprepared
for the surge in admission of critical
patients.”
Stating that the past 18 months
have challenged everyone, St. Kitts and
Nevis Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris
warned that the battle against the
COVID-19 pandemic is still very far from
being over.
“The battle against COVID-19 is not
yet won, and its devastating impact on
our societies and economies continues,”
said Dr. Harris. “We believe strongly that
no one is safe until everyone is safe, that
requires equitable access to vaccines and
other medical products and technologies.”
He lamented that the economic
impact of the pandemic will be felt for
years to come.
“The impact of COVID-19 on development
more widely, in particular the 2030
Sustainable Development Goals, has also
been significant,” he added.
St. Lucia Prime Minister, Philip J.
Pierre said while the novelty and evolving
character of the COVID-19 pandemic are
baffling, it has enlarged and worsened
the issues confronting SIDS.
“We continue to contend with the
near-impossible balancing act of preserving
lives and livelihoods,” said Prime
Minister Pierre in his maiden address to
the 76th Session of the United Nations
General Assembly Debate. “The insidious
nature of the virus has allowed it
to sneak across even the most heavily
patrolled borders, and St. Lucia has experienced
waves of highs and lows in managing
this pandemic.”
He called for standardization of vaccine
privileges across the global community,
“as it relates to quarantine, isolation
and other related requirements.”
St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime
Minister, Dr. Ralph E. Gonsalves said the
raging pandemic of COVID-19 has put
the world in a “veritable tailspin, even
as the roll-out of the vaccines has eased
the strain somewhat, particularly in the
developed world.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic has put the
global community at the critical, proverbial
crossroads. What is to be done? In
Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness addresses the 74th session of the
United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 27, 2019, at the United Nations
headquarters. Recently the prime minister instituted a tighter curfew
to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Associated Press/Frank Franklin II/ File
tackling the pandemic itself, the old ways
have tended to predominate, even as the
sunlit rays of a possible new path have
emerged,” Dr. Gonsalves said. “Thus,
for example, globally, we have witnessed
unacceptable vaccine nationalism; the
politicization of the roll-out of the vaccines;
and the roll-out of vaccines for the
rich first and the poor afterwards. To be
sure, we have also witnessed notable, and
noble, work by some global institutions
such as the World Health Organization,
the World Bank, and the COVAX Facility,
to make vaccines more accessible to poor
or marginalized countries.”
The Vincentian prime minister said
“the pervasive inequalities that defined
the pre-COVID political and socioeconomic
order must not become tomorrow’s
nightmarish reality.
“Instead, in this COVID era, we must
re-organize ourselves, locally, regionally,
nationally and globally, in a quest to provide
peace, security and development to
all countries and peoples in novel ways
and with fresh initiatives,” he urged.
“And let us also, with a renewed sense of
urgency and compassion, strive to protect,
and improve upon, this planet that
we all call home. It is pellucid that of all
time, only the future is ours to desecrate.
Our United Nations ought never to be
accomplices in any such desecration.”
In agreeing with United Nations Secretary
General ,Antonio Guterres, Antigua
and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston
Browne said the lack of a global
response and vaccination program to end
the COVID-19 pandemic is “a clear and
tragic example” of the failure of the international
community to deliver policies to
support peace, global health, the viability
of the planet and other pressing needs.
“If developed countries had acted in
a manner that allowed for the proper
access to vaccines and medical supplies
at the onset of the pandemic, globally we
would be in a better place,” Browne said.
“Developing countries were not seeking
handouts. Many of our countries paid
into a global system that promised early
access to vaccines.
“But it could not deliver because the
majority of the vaccines from the major
pharmaceutical companies had been
bought or contracted and hoarded by a
few wealthy nations, leaving the rest of
the world bereft of the means to save
their people,” he added. “This selfish
nationalism forced most nations to rely
on vaccine charity which, in itself, has
not solved the problem of large numbers
of people remaining unvaccinated
throughout the world.
“No country wanted charity; no country
wanted to beg for vaccines that should
be a global good accessible to all,” Browne
continued. “We were ready to pay. “But
the vaccines were hoarded, and the pharmaceutical
companies demanded prices
beyond the capacity of countries whose
economies were already decimated by the
economic effects of the pandemic.”
The Antiguan leader said the world
“should not witness such a spectacle
again.
“What is significant about the COVID-
19 pandemic is that years of warnings
of an inevitable pandemic threat were
not addressed, and there was inadequate
funding and stress testing of preparedness,”
he said.