(NOTE: In this excellent INSIGHT commentary published in The Tribune on June 15, 2021, Malcolm Strachan indirectly highlights the outstanding job His Excellency Sidney Collie, Bahamas Ambassador to the United States and Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS), is doing as The Bahamas’ top diplomat in the United States.)
By MALCOLM STRACHAN
POSITIVE signs on the vaccination front were revealed this week with the US deciding to provide some surplus vaccines to The Bahamas. It should be noted this is a result of diplomatic efforts by Foreign Affairs Minister Darren Henfield and Bahamian ambassador to the United States Sidney Collie.
As the G7 countries gathered in the United Kingdom for this year’s summit, chief among concerns was leading the world through what we hope is the end of the pandemic. In attendance was US President Joe Biden, who has been making a special effort to reverse course from the Trump administration’s brand of diplomacy and has expressed his country’s commitment to this enormous humanitarian undertaking.
Emphasising this show of generosity comes with no strings attached, President Biden pledged 500 million of the one billion doses of the vaccine being donated by the US will assist developing countries – a major push towards a global post-COVID recovery.
Hosting the G7 Summit, Prime Minister Boris Johnson also indicated the movement towards a united front on COVID-19. “The world needs this meeting,” he said. “We must be honest: international order and solidarity were badly shaken by COVID. Nations were reduced to beggar-my-neighbour tactics in the desperate search for PPE, for drugs — and, finally, for vaccines.”
He added: “This is the moment for the world’s greatest and most technologically advanced democracies to shoulder their responsibilities and to vaccinate the world, because no one can be properly protected until everyone has been protected.”
As these much-needed vaccines will be dispersed through the COVAX facility, this is great news for many countries, particularly those in Africa where concerns continue to mount.
Unfortunately, for those hoping we would have also been able to attain some of those billion doses, the remaining 33,600 doses from COVAX will complete our order.
Thankfully, cases have been on the decline, despite health experts still warning we remain in a third wave here at home.
Nonetheless, it is promising that the world’s most powerful countries are now looking beyond their borders and realising the need for the global community to keep pace with their vaccination efforts. See complete commentary in The Tribune at http://www.tribune242.com/news/2021/jun/14/insight-vaccinations-becoming-global-initiative-ma/
