A survey of Caribbean attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination finds mistrust of vaccines as a major contributing factor and calls for regional governments to adopt new communications strategies to address some of the critical concerns identified. The advice comes from a survey in six Caribbean countries, which found a lack of trust as the main reason influencing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy regionally. UNICEF and USAID commissioned the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Research Services Inc (CADRES) to conduct surveys...

After a marked lull caused by increased numbers of passengers being affected with COVID-19 in the Omicron era, cruise ships on Friday, 14th, January started returning to Port Castries with the arrival of Norwegian Epic at Point Seraphine. Local Health and Tourism authorities had quietly stepped-up daily monitoring of the health conditions of passengers on cruise ships bound for Saint Lucia and had instituted a mechanism for early flagging of those ships that posed a...

Saint Lucia’s new Consul General to Canada, Henry Mangal, has had his first meeting, online, with fellow citizens living in Canada. Mangal, in a bilingual recording uploaded to Saint Lucians in Canada, said the government ‘has decided to improve relations with Canada’ and he is ‘looking forward to engaging directly’ with the Canadian government when conditions allow him to take up residence in Canada. But in the meantime, he said, he’s ‘in daily contact with...

The Government of Saint Lucia has decided to return to the plans, abandoned by the last administration, for the Castries-Gros Islet 4-lane Highway. That’s according to Gros Islet MP Kenson Casimir, who says the government has decided to revive the project, from the Choc Bridge to Rodney Bay. The project will be financed by the Kuwaiti Fund, the original backers of the project. The Kuwaiti Fund, established in 1961, is the first aid agency in...

With Election Day just days away, Barbados’ two major political parties are pulling-out all the stops and throwing all the punches. The ruling Barbados Labour Party (BLP), with all seats in the 30-member Parliament, is going all-out to keep its full slate, while the opposition Democratic Labour Party (DLP) is treating this snap (18-months-early) General Election as an early chance to at least reduce the ruling party’s absolute majority if not defeat it. Prime Minister...

Brian Skeete has launched an online petition for a monument for a revolutionary Saint Lucian anti-slavery hero that many fellow citizens don’t know about. Following is Skeete’s story of Flore Bois Gaillard: Flore Bois Gaillard was an enslaved bi-racial woman owned by a man known as Master Bellac.  For several years, she worked on his plantation and later in his home as a maid/servant. There are no records of her early childhood, but it is...

Saint Lucia is set to become the next Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member state to break with the British Privy Council and make the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) its final appellate jurisdiction. That’s according to Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre, who indicated, in his inaugural New Year Address that, under his watch, “Constitutional Reform will be placed back on the front burner…” The announcement has been met with mixed responses; however, it should come as...

Cletus Springer, the Chair of NCMC, has taken SNO to task for allegedly misrepresenting his Facebook comment, by suggesting he had a problem explaining government decisions regarding Covid-19 protocol changes. While the SNO Article explained Springer’s understanding of the processes, responsibilities and structure of the NCMC, which he did correctly, it did not leave the impression that he, Springer, was really in the dark about Cabinet’s decisions regarding Covid-19 Protocol changes. In fairness to Mr....

The above photo went around the world over the Christmas Season, reflecting the creativity of Caribbean minds through the production of, what many will agree was, The Best Caribbean Christmas tree for 2021. It’s not known where and when the fruitful photo originated, but it was widely shared over the holiday weekend. The creator of this novel idea has offered yet another possible new use for the troubled banana industry: Banana Christmas Trees bearing other...

St. Vincent and the Grenadines is now the first member state of the (OECS) to be granted permission for the export of medicinal cannabis. The government in Kingstown announced on Friday (January 7) that the island would export its first shipment of medicinal cannabis to Europe. On January 5, 2022, the Government had approved the first export certificate for medicinal cannabis. The export permission was granted to Caribbean Cannabis Company trading as Medicinal. This company...