The Tribune

By MALCOLM STRACHAN

COVID-19 has been spreading through The Bahamas for the past 16 months. With government expenditure surpassing $290m and massive job losses, the siren call of tourism operators seeking to provide for guests again is hard to resist.

Nonetheless, we still have our own dilemmas at home – with the continuing politicisation of COVID-19, vaccines and the economic rebound we so anxiously await.

We know very well the countries that are our source markets continue to successfully vaccinate their people, so it is ruinous to continue with the nonsensical debate around vaccines in the manner we have been.

Certainly, the decision to become vaccinated is a choice in a free and democratic country. However, the fact that certain programmes to incentivise that choice are now being labeled as discriminatory is utterly flabbergasting. Early in the pandemic, when we were all locked down and on the brink of insanity, we could not imagine the invasion of COVID-19 lasting for the long haul. Now, over a year later, when an end is possibly in sight, conspiracy theorising, miseducation and fear-mongering have become the order of the day.

Such talk is dangerous for our country, public health and our livelihoods. And unfortunately, there are some who can clearly understand the difference who are only focusing on the side of the discussion that is more appetising during election season.

We’re seeing politicians who have a platform and the good sense to know the importance of widespread vaccination fanning the flames of division without discussing the reality of what may come if we were to see another surge of COVID-19 while the rest of the world is heading in the other direction.

While debate of the 2021/2022 Budget carried on in the Lower House on this matter, Senator Dr Michael Darville has been one of the voices cautioning against vaccine discrimination.

“The COVID vaccine must be voluntary,” he said while giving his remarks. “And I must make this clear. I have noticed that there is this atmosphere that people who are not vaccinated could possibly be discriminated [against]. That should not happen.

“COVID vaccines must be voluntary and individuals who have not been vaccinated should not be discriminated [against]. Even though, as a medical professional, I am preaching that you take the vaccine, if you do not, you should not be discriminated upon.”

House Speaker Halson Moultrie also shared similar sentiments during his appearance on a local radio talk show this week. He summed up the government’s decision to offer incentives for inoculated citizens plainly – get vaccinated or “suffer the consequences”.

While both men avoided the sensationalism we’ve often heard on this subject, there was still much more to be hashed out in the broader conversation about vaccinations.

Surely, we can all agree that dumbing the discussion down further to the government treating privileges for the vaccinated like a school dress up day is not helpful either. However, the question ought to be if the benefits outweigh the good.

We hear a lot of the fears associated with taking the vaccine. But even with such low numbers of people having side effects – as low as less than one percent of the Bahamians who took the jab experiencing such symptoms – we still continue to have superficial discussions that stink of how much one may not like the government or the Prime Minister.

But one thing we must understand as a people is that we vote governments in. And just as we voted the current government in, they can be voted out. High office is a place people pass through. Therefore, we cannot make decisions that might be injurious to ourselves or our future simply because we disagree with the politics of those guiding this process.

Last year, the UN stated in its World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) report that the pandemic was on target to push more than 34 million people into extreme poverty worldwide. Even more unsettling, they also forecast global economic losses up to $8.5 trillion over the next two years.

Realistically speaking, the only thing standing between where we are and those projections is vaccine uptake in the countries whose vaccination programmes are leading the way. Much to our benefit, the US and the UK are two of those countries.

Still, we must consider what type of hosts we intend to be.

A Bahamas able to boast of its vaccinated population and region-leading COVID-19 protocols would potentially send our climb back to 2019 statistics into high gear. Especially with early tourist arrival numbers indicating people have been waiting and wanting to return to our destination, we need not tarry on pandemic-proofing our bounce back.

The decision to vaccinate is one for each citizen of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. Likewise, the responsibility to become informed about what’s at stake is also your own.

Democratic governments all over the world would mandate COVID-19 vaccinations if they could avoid liability. That said, expect the world to become a very uncomfortable place for the unvaccinated as barriers continue to fall for most people.