By NAN Staff Writer
News Americas, WASHINGTON, D.C., Fri. Aug. 6, 2021: The Caribbean is again seeing a spike in new COVID-19 infections even as it fights two other battles – getting vaccines and convincing the majority of its nationals to take the vaccines.
A News Americas analysis of recent PAHO vaccination data for the Americas show that so far, only 7.4 million out of a total population of 31.2 million in 32 Caribbean countries have been fully vaccinated to date.
That’s just 24 percent of the total population as most of the CARICOM region continues to wait for vaccine donations from major countries globally, including the U.S., which has promised the region vaccines but has been slow to deliver.
In most countries, the data shows that those who have completed both shots of the vaccines is way below the 50 percent mark.
Only in the Cayman Islands, Bonaire, Puerto Rico, Saba, Bermuda and Aruba are over 50 percent of the population fully vaccinated currently.
The Cayman Islands leads the region with over 75 percent fully vaccinated followed by Puerto Rico and Saba with just over 67
In Bonaire, 65 percent of the population is fully vaccinated followed by almost 67 percent in Bermuda and just over 60 percent in Aruba.
LOWEST VACCCINATED COUNTRIES
Haiti, which only managed to secure over 5,000 vaccines last month, leads as the lowest vaccinated nation in the region, with just 341 people fully vaccinated out of a population of 11.5 plus million.
In Suriname, only 9.6 percent of over 591,000 people have been fully vaccinated while in Jamaica the number is also small, at around 10.2 percent of over 2.9 million people.
In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, just 10.12 percent of its population of 111,269 have been vaccinated while in The Bahamas, just over 11 percent of the population of over 396,000 have been fully vaccinated.
In Belize, just over 12 percent out of over 404,000 are fully vaccinated while in Trinidad and Tobago, just over 13 percent of over 1.4 million are now fully vaccinated.
Just 13.2 percent of St. Lucia’s population of over 184,000 is fully vaccinated while in French Guiana, just about 13.8 percent of its 306,450 population is fully vaccinated as the island again sees a spike in COVID-19 cases.
In Grenada, just over 14 percent of its 113,000 plus population have been fully vaccinated while in Guyana, just over 17 percent of over 790,000 are fully vaccinated.
HERE’S HOW THE REGION STACKS UP:
| COUNTRY | Total Fully Vaccinated | Population |
| Anguilla | 8,765 | 18,224 |
| Antigua & Barbuda | 30,790 | 98,728 |
| Aruba | 64,342 | 107,195 |
| Bahamas | 43,943 | 396,194 |
| Barbados | 74,877 | 287,708 |
| Belize | 49,681 | 404, 195 |
| Bermuda | 40,997 | 72,009 |
| Bonaire | 13,113 | 20,104 |
| Cayman Islands | 47,472 | 63,103 |
| Curacao | 81,988 | 164,796 |
| Dominica | 19,599 | 74,321 |
| Dominican Republic | 4,174,568 | 10,953,714 |
| French Guiana | 42,012 | 306,450 |
| Grenada | 16,236 | 113,015 |
| Guyana | 136,919 | 790,329 |
| Haiti | 341 | 11,541,683 |
| Jamaica | 122,174 | 2,973,462 |
| Montserrat | 1,337 | 5,404 |
| Puerto Rico | 1,906,220 | 2,828, 246 |
| Saba | 1,300 | 1,933 |
| Sint Eustacius | 1,211 | 3,138 |
| Sint Maarten | 21,104 | 44,418 |
| St. Kitts and Nevis | 19,695 | 54,166 |
| St. Lucia | 24,418 | 184,401 |
| St. Vincent and the Grenadines | 11,257 | 111,269 |
| Suriname | 56,684 | 591,798 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 189,273 | 1,403,374 |
| Turks & Caicos | 22,696 | 57,022 |
| British Virgin Islands | 11,438 | 38,172 |
| Guadeloupe | 50,871 | 400,013 |
| Martinique | 113,561 | 374,743 |
