NEWS
CMO: Ensure vaccination cards are stamped
Chief medical officer Dr Roshan Parasram is asking those who receive the covid19 vaccine to ensure their vaccination cards have the official stamp of the health facility at which it was administered. He was responding to questions from the media at the Health Ministry's virtual press conference on Monday morning. A reporter said there had been instances where people were sent home with unstamped vaccination cards and asked Parasram about their validity. Read more here
Did Petrotrin make massive mistake with A&V Oil and Gas?
Could a decision by state-owned Petrotrin to change the royalty payment terms for A&V Oil and Gas cost the state-owned company hundreds of millions of dollars without it receiving a barrel of oil? That is one of the issues that the arbitration panel is still to decide on, in the dispute between Petrotrin and A&V Oil over Petrotrin’s decision to stop A&V from operating its Catshill oil field in Rio Claro, based on allegations that A&V was claiming to be producing more oil than it really was and defrauding Petrotrin of significant sums of money. Read more here
POLITIC
Gopee-Scoon: Drug prices to be monitored
Minister of Trade and Foreign Affairs Paula Gopee-Scoon said the Division of Consumer Affairs is developing a new programme to help consumers monitor the prices of pharmaceutical items and will start in July. Gopee-Scoon was speaking in the Senate in debate on the Gaming and Betting Bill on Monday. She was responding to a question from Opposition Senator Wade Mark about the merger of Agostini Ltd and two other pharmaceutical companies and measures to safeguard against the company’s ability to increase the prices of pharmaceuticals. Read more here
WASA executive chairman apologises for disconnection drive—Minister
Chairman of the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) Lennox Sealy has apologised for last week’s disconnection drive, Public Utilities Minister, Marvin Gonzales told Guardian Media yesterday. The drive which was announced last week via a news release was targeted at errant customers of the authority. The debt-recovery action started on Wednesday with the disconnection of several customers in Barataria, San Juan and Chaguanas, after what WASA said were numerous attempts to encourage those customers to pay proved futile. Read more here
BUSINESS
Gambling bill passed
The Gambling (Gaming and Betting) Control Bill, 2021 was passed yesterday in the Senate at the Red House, Port of Spain. A total of 24 Senators voted for the bill, including all nine Independent senators. The six Opposition senators abstained. Finance Minister Colm Imbert knocked the Opposition for “filibustering” for six years on this legislation. Read more here
REGIONAL
Gov’t studying possibility of COVID combo vaccinations
The Jamaican Government is keenly studying the prospect of administering different vaccine brands to inoculate persons against COVID-19, signalling the reversal of a previous declaration as the science evolves. Jamaica is still awaiting an official ruling from the World Health Organization (WHO) on the emerging practice that could ease the second-dose crisis and supply shortages that have forced the island to curb its roll-out. Read more here
‘Cheap politics’ must not trump saving lives
Cognizant of the worldwide issue of vaccine hesitancy, pessimistic statements issued by the Leader of the Opposition, Joseph Harmon, and other prominent individuals, pertaining to Guyana’s vaccination campaign could derail and hinder the country’s objective of vaccinating most of its adult population by this year-end, said Health Ministry Adviser, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy. Dr Ramsammy, a former Health Minister, expressed these sentiments while appearing on Trinidad and Tobago’s CNC3 Television programme, the Morning Brew with Soyini Grey on Monday. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
The pandemic wrought a new America
America is heading into a best of times, worst of times summer as the longed-for promise of deliverance from Covid-19 is tempered by spasms of violent crime, economic false starts and unexpected obstacles on the road to freedom. Things are demonstrably better. A 300 million vaccine effort gave many their lives back and a once-apocalyptic jobs crisis is much improved. A new presidency has restored science to its rightful place. The more than 600,000 dead are honored, not ignored. And the most important antidote in a national crisis -- truth -- has made a White House comeback. Read more here
Unesco: Great Barrier Reef should be listed as 'in danger'
Australia's government has lashed out after a United Nations report claimed it had not done enough to protect the Great Barrier Reef from climate change. UN body Unesco said the reef should be put on a list of World Heritage Sites that are "in danger" due to the damage it has suffered. Key targets on improving water quality had not been met, it said. Environment minister Sussan Ley said UN experts had reneged on past assurances. She confirmed that Australia planned to challenge the listing, which would take place at a meeting next month, saying: "Clearly there were politics behind it; clearly those politics have subverted a proper process." The World Heritage Committee is a 12-nation group chaired by China, which has had a vexed diplomatic relationship with Canberra in recent years. Read more here
22nd June 2021