Letter to the Hon. Antony Blinken, Secretary of State - Brown, Meeks, Clarke And Plaskett Urge Biden Administration Action To Curb COVID-19 In Jamaica

Letter

Dear Secretary Blinken:

We write to highlight the ongoing COVID-19 crisis in Jamaica and to urge the administration to engage your counterparts in Kingston as quickly as practicable to assist the Jamaican government to combat the spread of COVID-19, including providing resources for vaccinations.

As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its second year, our strategy to defeat the pandemic must extend beyond our borders and must address the global nature of the virus. Variants of concern have been identified in Brazil, South Africa, and the United Kingdom (UK), all of which threaten our ability to control the pandemic here at home. B.1.1.7, a more virulent and deadly strain of COVID-19 that originated within the UK, is now the most common lineage circulating within the United States. Achieving herd immunity against the virus is only a viable outcome if we are able to limit the potential of variants that are able escape vaccine induced protection.

We applaud you for recognizing these facts and your initiative to provide 4 million vaccines to Canada and Mexico, our neighbors to the north and south. However, we must not forget our neighbors in the Caribbean on our third border. The tourism-dependent economies of these nations are significantly suffering from the travel limitations that are necessary to control the pandemic. They further lack the medical capability or financial resources to independently develop their own effective vaccines, leaving them reliant on the global health industry.

Jamaica is especially facing a crisis in controlling and responding to the pandemic. The country is currently experiencing twice the infection rate of the global average and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has declared a "Very High Level of COVID-19" within Jamaica, our highest level for categorization of infection. It is estimated that the economies of Caribbean island states have shrunk up to 30 percent, with unemployment rising to more than 50 percent in some cases.

To date, less than 1% of the Jamaican population has been vaccinated and at the current rate, only 10% of the population will be vaccinated in the next year. The CDC additionally advises that even "fully vaccinated travelers [in Jamaica] may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants," highlighting the potential danger that mutations bring to our own efforts to mitigate the deadly effects of this disease. While Jamaica recently became the first Caribbean country to receive COVID-19 vaccines through the World Health Organization-backed COVAX facility, the 14,400 doses are insufficient to protect the island nation's nearly 3 million inhabitants.

As such, Americans and Jamaicans share a common struggle against a common enemy, one that can only be addressed through proper prioritization of domestic and international measures. We must do our part as a nation and the leader in global health security to assist Jamaica, our neighbor and ally. The current level and projections of inoculation within their country are clearly insufficient to provide the necessary level of protection to mitigate both the pandemic within their own country and the potential development of escape cases. We urge the State Department to lead the effort in providing the Jamaican government with COVID-19 vaccines and other resources necessary to properly mitigate and control this pandemic.

We thank you for your consideration of this request, your commitment to global health security, and your continued partnership in restoring the United States' role as a leader in the world community in times of crisis.

Sincerely,