An Unfortunate Reality

While Canada, the United States and Europe have more than enough vaccines to inoculate their populations, the rest of the world continues to lag behind, both in terms of having access to vaccines and to getting people in those regions vaccinated.

“The combination of vaccine equity and [vaccine] hesitancy could constitute a worse pandemic than COVID-19,” observed Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett.

In conversation with Canadian Travel Press during a recent Toronto visit, Minister Bartlett pointed out that: “The heart of the recovery of the global economy – and tourism, in particular – is with vaccinations. The scientific tool that we have available to us to mitigate the effect of the virus, reduce hospitalizations and death is the vaccine. And if countries are to recover, they must have access to the vaccine.”

But said Minister Bartlett: “The unfortunate reality … is 80% of the vaccines in the world are locked into 20% of the countries and so, while 6 billion doses have already been administered, more than 70% of the world is still to have a second dose.”

For the full story, check out the latest issue of CANADIAN TRAVEL PRESS.

PHOTO CAPTION

Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett and Director of Tourism, Donovan White during a recent visit to Toronto.