Saint Barth before France?
The entire adult population of the French island of Saint-Barthélemy will be able to be vaccinated, probably from mid-April, announced Friday the director general of the Regional Health Agency of Guadeloupe, Valérie Denux.
"We have just had the authorization to open vaccination to the entire population for Saint-Barthélemy," said Ms. Denux.
"We will launch this probably from mid-April," she continued.
The choice of the vaccine that will allow this massive campaign is "under discussion", "what is needed is that we have a vaccine that is more manageable than Pfizer-BioNtech in terms of logistics, and that the people can come freely and in a significant way ", specified Mrs. Denux, justifying this evolution of the vaccination campaign by a" rate of incidence nevertheless very high "in Saint-Barthélemy.
According to the latest figures released by the Prefecture of the North Islands on Thursday, the incidence rate reached 725 cases per 100,000 inhabitants for the week of March 15 to 21, against 521 cases per 100,000 inhabitants the previous week.
It greatly exceeds the alert threshold set at 250 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
A mass vaccination campaign has already started on the islands of Wallis and Futuna and Saint-Pierre and Miquelon
However, these figures should be taken with caution given the size of the population in Saint-Barthélemy (approximately 9,800 inhabitants).
On this island without a curfew where bars and restaurants are still open, the latest health bulletin reports 71 cases of Covid-19 for the week of March 15 to 21 against 51 the previous week.
A massive vaccination campaign has already started on the islands of Wallis and Futuna and Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.
According to Ms. Denux, the island of Saint-Martin, neighbor of Saint-Barthélemy, could follow.