Haiti received fresh promises that its first COVID-19 vaccines will arrive soon, at a time when the country of more than 11 million people suffers a spike in cases and deaths from the coronavirus that has saturated hospitals.
Speaking during an online meeting, Margherita Ghiselli of the Pan American Health Organization said that inoculations in Haiti will begin “very soon,” although she did not say exactly when the doses will arrive.
Meanwhile, the United Nations’ COVAX program – which ships coronavirus vaccines to poor countries and has Haiti on its list – has cut its supply forecast this year by more than 100 million doses.
It is not known at the moment how that could affect the delivery of vaccines to Haiti via COVAX, but some officials were suspicious of the news.
Robert Barrais, from the Haitian Ministry of Public Health, said during the meeting that hospitalizations have almost doubled and that the country remains in the critical phase of the pandemic.
The authorities have reported more than 17,900 confirmed infections of coronavirus and 400 deaths from COVID-19, although experts believe that these figures are well below the real ones given the little application of diagnostic tests.
“The fact that we still do not have vaccines, that explains the current situation we have in the country,” said Barrais.
Haiti was due to receive about 756,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine last month under the COVAX program, but government officials were concerned about its potential side effects and the possibility of being forced to discard doses given the lack of infrastructure to adequately refrigerate them.
Later, authorities announced that some 130,000 doses would arrive in mid-June, but the shipment was delayed for unknown reasons.
And if doses do arrive, authorities have yet to persuade thousands of Haitians to get vaccinated due to widespread mistrust of vaccines and health authorities.
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