“VERY far behind” is how Jamaica, which has been lumped with neighbouring Haiti, has been described in vaccination against COVID-19, in the latest World Bank report.

The report, titled ‘Two Years After: Saving a Generation’, released last Thursday by the World Bank and UNICEF, in collaboration with UNESCO, said whilst the death toll in Latin America and the Caribbean has been devastating, some countries in the region have regained control over the immediate health crisis through increased access to vaccines and significant vaccination rates.

It, however, said, “while countries like Chile and Cuba – with 91 and 88 per cent of people fully vaccinated, respectively – are top of the regional ranking, countries like Haiti, with one per cent of its population vaccinated, and Jamaica at 23 per cent, are very far behind”.

The report said that in general vaccination rates in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) showed that larger countries in the South America sub-region have been more successful in acquiring vaccines and vaccinating its population when compared to countries in the Caribbean.

According to data from the website of the Ministry of Health in Jamaica last updated June 25, a total of 1,455,907 doses of vaccine have been administered. Of this number 705,433 Jamaicans have received first doses, 602,003 second doses and 106,410 single doses. A total 23.9 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated.

In the meantime, the country also found itself listed among the countries that kept school doors shuttered for the longest.

According to the report, data on the length and intensity of school closures across LAC indicated that countries and governments in the region approached school closures and reopening in different ways.

It said the majority of small island states in the Caribbean were the ones to close less and/or reopen earlier, arguably due to their insular situation, which gave them an edge in terms of border closing and virus spread.

“Still, some specific Caribbean islands like The Bahamas, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands were among the top 15 countries with longest spells of school closures,” the report said.

Jamaica, in March of 2020, following the discovery of the first case of the virus in the island shuttered all schools, reverting to online platforms. Full face-to -face resumption for public schools resumed only in March of this year.

The report, in the meantime, said the massive and pervasive school closures have been heterogenous in nature, not only across countries but similarly within many countries, including Bolivia Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay, which initiated the school reopening process in rural areas with lower transmission rates and COVID-19 prevalence. It said other countries like Colombia empowered sub-national levels to reopen, while pointing out that some governments also prioritised return to school for specific groups, including for vulnerable students.

Commenting further, the document said the education crisis in the LAC region is the second worst globally, with 80 per cent of sixth graders in the region expected to lack basic reading comprehension skills due to COVID-19 school closures.

Describing the situation, Carlos Felipe Jaramillo, World Bank vice-president for LAC, said it was “an unprecedented education crisis” that could affect future developments in the region.

On average, children in the region have lost approximately one and a half years of learning, according to the report.

Coupled with the fact that the region was already in a learning deficit prior to the pandemic, experts believe LAC will be affected for more than a decade.

“Latin America and the Caribbean has already lost more than 10 years of learning progress due to two years of COVID-19 school closures,” said Jean Gough, UNICEF’s regional director for LAC.