Limiting the COVID-19 vaccination campaign to “registered residents” as Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs was quoted as saying in Thursday’s paper might seem understandable at first glance. The number of vaccines provided by the Netherlands will be based on 70 per cent of the registered population.
This is because an estimated 30 per cent may not want to take the shots and wasting potentially lifesaving vaccines – that can no longer be returned – in urgent demand worldwide was simply not an option. Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor VSA Richard Panneflek in the same edition assured that Collective Prevention Services (CPS) and Public Health Department have had in-depth feedback on the vaccinations plans for which representatives of the Dutch Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sports VWS were in town.
However, the prime minister clarified late Thursday that she had not meant only legal residents -as assumed by the reporter involved- but rather all residents. A reference to those “registered” later in her reply to the related question was thus misunderstood.
That’s good news, given the reality on the ground regarding undocumented workers. There are thousands of them living in St. Maarten practically everywhere.
Moreover, immigrants were hit hard during especially the first wave of COVID-19 infections and a relatively high percentage of those who ended up in intensive care at the hospital or passed away turned out to be foreign, as government had revealed at the time. The possible reasons given included crowded housing conditions and less-healthy eating habits, but also fear of reporting symptoms due to their – often – illegal status.
But there is a global problem, an analysis by Reuters published today shows. Concern has been growing about certain groups being left without access to not just vaccines but also medical care should they contract the virus. Apparently neither is -thankfully- an issue on the island.
Skipping undocumented migrants when vaccinating the public would be risky at best in terms of so-called herd immunity, which is key to ending the pandemic. As the United Nations (UN) secretary-general was fittingly quoted: Nobody is safe until everybody is safe.
