This week, the Government of Singapore announced unvaccinated persons would effectively be on their own in the fight against the pandemic. Starting December 8, 2021 persons who fall ill with COVID-19 would pay their own medical bills. Those who are “unvaccinated by choice” will have to start paying for their own COVID-19 treatment a statement from the country’s ministry of health announced.
Singapore has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. 85% of it’s population is fully vaccinated but currently unvaccinated persons make up the majority of those who require intensive medical care.
On the home front, since the availability of the vaccine, the unvaccinated, too, has accounted for 97% of hospitalizations and persons needing medical attention. A trend the St. Lucia Medical and Dental Association (SLMDA) highlights as being “unsustainable”.
Health care workers are at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic and are overworked even when effective measures exist to combat the pandemic. “We cannot continue to live as we have for the past twenty (20) months. The impact on the mental health of frontline workers and citizens in general has been profoundly negative”, Dr. Merle Clarke, President of the SLMDA said in a statement this past Sunday.
Like Singapore, the Government of St. Lucia has covered all expenses since the start of the pandemic. All bills for testing and medical expenses at the island’s respiratory clinics have been paid out of the public purse. But, for how much longer can this continue?
Most of the Island’s Population Unvaccinated
At the end of last week, only 23% of St. Lucia’s population was fully vaccinated. This number is nowhere close to a country like Singapore’s but will the same eventually obtain for the unvaccinated? The low number of vaccinations are in no way a result of inadequate supply. Shortages have been lamented by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on behalf of many low income countries. They have clamoured for more supply. Yet, their high income neighbours, since September, have began administering third booster shots to their citizens. A reality not experienced in many low income “shit-hole countries”, as a former World Leader once said. Many people have yet to receive even the first dose.
Whilst this is the general global outlook, the situation is not the same everywhere. Currently, there are two options of the COVID-19 vaccine available in St. Lucia completely free to the public, pfizer BionTech and Astrazeneca.
Just 3 weeks ago, the Ministry of Health, in an effort to use vaccine supply which would soon expire, introduced a pfizer booster shot to immune compromised and elderly persons most at risk. Soon after, due to seemingly even lower adaptation, this was augmented to include anyone who had been fully vaccinated for more than 3-6 months and wanted to get the shot. To date, only 702 booster shots have been administered.
Booster shots have been mainly only available in high income countries such as the United States whose vaccination rate is much high than St. Lucia’s. The vaccine is available for a single, second and even third booster shot yet vaccination continues to wane. Are we casting our pearls to swine?
What is Government’s strategy to combat the pandemic?
“The time to act decisively is now!” Dr. Clarke, SLMDA Prez, also declared in her statement. “To our policy makers”, she said, “we believe that the time has come to seriously consider the implementation of vaccine mandates starting with key sectors such as essential workers and any individual who is in constant contact with others. We cannot allow the virus to win.”
In a strongly worded statement last month, the Private Sector Coucil also sounded the alarm andadded called for “quick and deliberate national action to safeguard the lives of St. Lucians”. In their statement, they also went on to say “Swift and decisive action now on the part of policymakers, could very well pave the way for a robust holiday season. Timing is critical. The Private Sector Council calls on the Government to urgently convene a national dialogue with unions, the private sector council, the Department of Labour, and the Attorney General’s Chambers, among others, to facilitate action.”
At the start of November the Government of St. Lucia introduced revised COVID-19 protocols. These new protocols gave incentives to the vaccinated who were allowed to dine-in at restaurants, patronize bars, the cinema and even attend small gatherings. Like Singapore, will coverage of their own medical bills be the next thing with which the unvaccinated must contend?
The COVID-19 Management Center is set to convene on Thursday November 11, 2021 at 10:00am. Chairman, Cletus Springer, announced the organisation was working to address low vaccination rates. Reasons for which, he described, “may have been a result of conflicting schedules and inadequate ease of access”. Will the organisation announce any major plans which would effect vaccination in droves?
The Minister for Health, Moses Jn Baptiste, and the Prime Minister, Philip Pierre have both indicated their Government had no intention of making the vaccine mandatory. It has, nevertheless, been proven the most effective tool in combating COVID-19 the world over. With the majority of the population seemingly unwilling to get vaccinated, and in their pledge to “Put People First”, what will be their next move to combat the pandemic?
Can a vulnerable health care system, coupled with a prevelance of high levels of chronic disease and waning vaccination rates continue to trust this Science?
