(CMR) With close to 70 percent of Cayman Island's population now vaccinated, the country could be the first in the Caribbean to achieve herd COVID-19 immunity.
As of May 20, there have been 76,379 Covid-19 vaccinations given in total in the Cayman Islands. Of these, 41,307 (64% of 65,000) have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 54% have completed the two-dose course.
Approximately 5000 more people need to be vaccinated for Cayman to reach this national target of 70 percent that could see the borders reopening.
Premier Wayne Panton said the initial target vaccination rate of 80% might be difficult to achieve and that the Government was looking at achieving 70% vaccination before considering reopening the country's borders. However, there was still some way to go to achieve this.
This could be accomplished soon as the Government has embarked on a vaccination campaign with persons who get vaccinated by June 8 having a chance to win several prizes.
The business community has also been encouraging persons to get vaccinated so some normalcy can return to the country's economic activities.
“It is imperative for the whole community that we are able to safely open our borders as soon as possible and restart the sectors of our economy that have been stagnant since our borders first closed,” Mike Gibbs, President of the Chamber of Commerce, said last week.
Marc Langevin, General Manager at The Ritz-Carlton, said the tourism industry supports the country's vaccination efforts which are crucial to the tourism industry.
“The Tourism Industry fully supports the proactive approach to vaccination efforts in our country as we understand how critical it is to finally put the pandemic behind us. We are very fortunate that almost our entire population has access to the vaccines and to have a government that has had such a cautious and safe approach to the re-opening of our borders,” he said.
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