By EARYEL BOWLEG
ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
THE United States’ decision to withdraw funding from the World Health Organization will have a potential impact locally, Health Minister Dr Duane Sands said yesterday.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump announced a halt to WHO funding, accusing the entity of failing in its duty to properly respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Bahamas government gets vaccines through the Pan American Health Organization, the regional arm of WHO.
“We get our vaccines through the Pan American Health Organization. There are already challenges with accessing vaccines because of increased cost of shipment and so we will have to see,” Dr Sands said yesterday.
“It is likely the Bahamian government will have to give in cash or kind to continue the same programmes that have been ongoing but we’re committed to getting it done.
“We don’t believe that this is going to last forever and hopefully as the discussions go on between the United States and WHO and so on and so forth this will be resolved. “
This week is the 18th annual Vaccination Week in the Americas. In a press release sent last week, PAHO/WHO experts encouraged countries to maintain vaccinations for diseases such as flu and measles during the COVID-19 epidemic.
“Vaccines save lives and must be maintained even during the COVID-19 pandemic. The most vulnerables should not suffer the consequences of not getting the vaccines they need,” PAHO Director Dr Carissa Etienne said recently.
Comments
Well_mudda_take_sic 3 years, 11 months ago
Here we see a most disgraceful effort by Minnis and Sands to carry water for their Red Chinese masters by insinuating the US is to blame for the problems our country has in obtaining vaccines for diseases like flu and measles.
Why has Sands failed to disclose that the real problem is Red China not paying its fair share of the costs of international organizations like the WHO? In recent years the US has been annually funding the WHO to the tune of about US$500 million compared to the less than US$40 million of annual funding provided by Red China. And the same is true of Red China's failure to pay anywhere near its fair share of the annual operating costs of many other international organizations. Instead, the very decitful and ruthless Xi Jinping communist regime has been busily increasing its influence in these international organizations by corrupt means, essentially 'buying' the support of key officials within these organizations including many key officials on their various committees.
If there's a country to be blamed for The Bahamas not being able to obtain the vaccines it needs, that country is Red China, not the US!
happyfly 3 years, 11 months ago
This is a clear indicator that China/WHO is manipulating the Bahamian Government. You need to do your own homework as to how China is manipulating the WHO but the fact that our very own Bahamian Government Minister of Health felt the need to make a press release going against the President of the USA regarding high-level multinational government level funding agendas right now - in this current health crisis = Kissing Chinese pn???
Chucky 3 years, 11 months ago
by Chucky
Seems China is the second largest contributor
Well_mudda_take_sic 3 years, 11 months ago
Whereas the US government can be coy and misleading at times, propaganda and misinformation are the hallmarks of the evil and ruthless Xi Jinping led communist regime.
The_Oracle 3 years, 11 months ago
Just another hand out line we stand in. Yet we are so sovereign.
proudloudandfnm 3 years, 11 months ago
We are a country of less than 400,000 we are exactly the type of country the WHO was created to assist in times of a global pandemic. We do not have the resources necessary to combat something like this. And keep in mind trump is failing miserably in response to this virus, he wants nothing more than to distract from that. And oh yeah! He is in fact a documented pathological liar....
proudloudandfnm 3 years, 11 months ago
Trump is such a piece of garbage.....
Well_mudda_take_sic 3 years, 11 months ago
And what do you think of Xi Jinping whose ruthless and evil communist regime we have to thank for the spread of the Red China Virus around the world? Or would you prefer to simply blame Trump for that too!
proudloudandfnm 3 years, 11 months ago
I will wait for actual investigations to determine the where and who and how. I will not under any circumstances take any info from any Amrrican right wing "news" organisation.....
Well_mudda_take_sic 3 years, 11 months ago
CNN has reported on several recent occasions that a majority of the world's countries are fully satisfied from the available evidence to date that the Xi Jinping led communist regime suppressed and withheld vital information very early on that could and should have prevented the Red China Virus pandemic. The only open question still under investigation is whether the ruthless and evil communist Xi Jinping led communist regime acted with deliberate malicious intent. Hopefully you consider CNN a little more neutral than Fox News. LMAO
proudloudandfnm 3 years, 11 months ago
Like I said...
An actual investigation....
proudloudandfnm 3 years, 11 months ago
And I most certainly will not attack the WHO over anything trump the pathological liar and moron says...
proudloudandfnm 3 years, 11 months ago
Let me clarify. An actual investigation NOT run by any US government agency. Right now under trump the US government cannot be trusted....
Well_mudda_take_sic 3 years, 11 months ago
Yikes! You sound way too anti-American for me to even begin to understand your line of thinking. But thankfully I do remember you in your Tribune website posts last September heaping all of that praise on the U.S. Coast Coast for their invaluable and heroic help in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian. And of course you do realise the Coast Guard's immediate assistance came to us by way of an executive order from none other than your self-proclaimed nemesis, President Trump. ROWL
xtreme2x 3 years, 11 months ago
yes
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