Haiti’s COVID numbers resurging, top public health official says
COVID-19 cases are on the rise and the reported numbers are lagging behind actual cases, the head of Haiti’s Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP) said.
Dr. Lauré Adrien, the general director of the MSPP, said the reopening of travel into and out of Haiti has contributed to a resurgence in COVID-19 cases. The agency’s official tally lags behind the real-time cases seen at health centers and hospitals.
Nonprofit pairing COVID-19 vaccine with Haitian Heritage festivities on May 15
As part of its 10th annual Haitian-American Heritage and Flag Day celebration, the nonprofit Life of Hope Center seeks to increase vaccination rates among Brooklyn’s Haitian community.
To coincide with a daylong celebration featuring food and live music, Life of Hope is partnering with the New York City Test & Trace Corps to host a mobile vaccine clinic. Vaccines are available by walk-in only from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. or until supplies last.
Haiti hasn’t vaccinated a single person — which puts them and South Floridians in danger
By the Miami Herald Editorial Board
April 09, 2021 01:30 PM,
This editorial has been updated on May 6, 2021 to reflect new information.
Haiti is already plagued by so many issues. Deep political turmoil. Extreme poverty. Armed gangs terrorizing people. A wave of kidnappings for ransom.
And not a single COVID vaccine has been administered in the country.
More than two months after other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean started receiving vaccines through COVAX, a group backed by the World Health Organization, Haiti still hasn’t gotten any.
There are a few reasons. A Miami Herald story on April 9 said factors included the lack of a sufficient health infrastructure, not enough planning, logistical delays and concerns about the safety of AstraZeneca vaccines, which have faced setbacks in the United Kingdom and European Union after blood-clotting worries. More recently, on May 5, a story noted that “legal and administrative arrangements” still must be made.
World events are starting to intervene, too. The explosion of COVID-19 cases in India means that country has halted its exports of the AstraZeneca vaccines. The Serum Institute of India was supposed to send about a billion doses to COVAX, the United Nations-backed alliance helping poorer nations obtain the life-saving shots. Haiti was in line to get 756,000 doses by the end of May but that’s been cast into doubt.
The result is that a country of about 11 million people still hasn’t even begun to vaccinate its population. That’s not good for Haitians on the island, and because of Haiti’s close ties to South Florida, that’s not good for us, either.
So far, Haiti appears to have been lucky. The country allowed the three-day Carnival celebration to go on in February this year, even though the pre-Lenten celebration was barred in other countries across the region because of the pandemic. Many residents still do not wear masks.
Yet the country’s official COVID-19 numbers, if they are to be believed, have been remarkably low. Haiti has registered 13,164 confirmed cases and just 263 deaths since March 2020.
In a country with scarce medical facilities, those numbers are probably far from accurate, but, even so, it seems that Haiti has not been a hotspot of infection. If so, it is truly a blessing in a country that needs every blessing it can get.
But Haiti is going to need more than that. If there’s one thing we’ve learned in more than a year of this pandemic, it’s that the virus isn’t easily defeated. It’s mutating, and some of those variants are more contagious and may cause more severe disease.
Cost isn’t a factor. Haiti is among 10 countries in the Americas that will receive vaccines for 20 percent of its population for free through COVAX.
The responsible thing for Haiti to do is get vaccines into as many arms as possible — quickly — so infections don’t suddenly blow up.
Haiti’s foreign minister, Claude Joseph, told the Editorial Board last month that Haiti wants to recast the prevailing narrative about the country, starting with free, fair and safe elections this year. President Jovenel Moïse has been ruling without a parliament for more than a year. A peaceful and speedy transfer of power would certainly go a long way toward changing Haiti’s image.
But elections are still months off. Vaccines are available now. It’s time for the government to be open and honest about the reasons Haitians still don’t have access to them. It’s time to get vulnerable people vaccinated.
The Pan American Health Organization, or PAHO, the WHO’s Americas branch, told Herald Caribbean correspondent Jacqueline Charles this spring that Haiti and the international community have been working hard to get vaccines there as soon as possible. But PAHO also has said that if Haiti rejects its free vaccines, those doses will be sent to another country.
We understand the Haitian government has many problems to solve. But a lack of vaccines doesn’t have to be one of them — and it shoudn’t be. If Haiti wants to change its narrative, it needs to tell its citizens — and the international community — why it hasn’t begun vaccinating its citizens against the terrible scourge of COVID-19.
Joseph said that “2021 is a crucial year for Haiti.” We couldn’t agree more. Getting vaccines to the people now is the perfect place to start — and it’s already overdue.
Kerby Jean-Raymond will be the first Black American designer to present at Paris Haute Couture
By Kristen Rogers for CNN
Kerby Jean-Raymond will become the first Black American designer to present at Paris Haute Couture Week, a significant moment in his ascent within the fashion industry.
His fashion label Pyer Moss, which has been invited to be a guest member of the official Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, will show its first couture collection in July.
The historic first comes amid ongoing conversations about how the fashion industry can combat racial prejudice and disparities within its own ranks and more broadly.
In an interview with CNN Style in 2019, Jean-Raymond described Pyer Moss as an “art project that operates in the fashion space.” The brand, which he founded in 2013, embraces the power of fashion as a storytelling device, often weaving theater, activism and social commentary into its collections and runway shows.
Jean-Raymond’s 2018 project “American, Also,” was a three-part retelling of the American story, which included the history of Black cowboys, as well as the daily experiences of Black families. For the latter, artist Derrick Adams created 11 artworks that reflected Black life, which Jean-Raymond turned into garments shown at New York Fashion Week.
Mayor’s office: Thousands can gain residency, citizenship from Biden reforms
Haitian Times
Immigration bills introduced by President Joe Biden this year could provide permanent residency or citizenship status to thousands in New York City’s community of more than 3 million immigrants.
“It’s a very exciting moment and one that we know has been met with the introduction of incredibile pathways to citizenship that we hope will be realized,” said Bitta Mostofi, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA), in a May 6 press briefing.
The Citizenship Act of 2021 creates a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and the American Dream and Promise Act offers Dreamers, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) holders an opportunity to receive permanent residency status. Neither bill has passed the United States Congress to become law. But according to recent data from MOIA and research organizations, tens of thousands of Haitian immigrants would directly benefit from the legislation, based on their immigration status.
“We estimate that up to 476,000 New Yorkers could benefit from [the Citizenship Act] should it pass Congress,” said Mostofi, speaking about the overall impact of the legislation. Up to 100,000 could become eligible for permanent residency through the Dream and Promise Act, she also said.
Each spring, MOIA publishes a “State of Our Immigrant City” report, which relies on U.S. Census numbers from the previous year to estimate immigrant populations. The 2020 report indicates a population of 83,384 Haitian immigrants, an increase from the 80,900 reported in 2019.
This population, which includes naturalized citizens, legal permanent residents, TPS holders and the undocumented, represents 2.8% of all foreign-born New York City residents. Haitians make up the eighth-largest group citywide.
Kerby Jean-Raymond will be the first Black American designer to present at Paris Haute Couture
https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/f55109b7288f8db39dd38dec657f29bd?s=80&d=mm&r=g" width="80" height="80" />BY THE HAITIAN TIMESMAY. 14, 2021
By Kristen Rogers for CNN
Kerby Jean-Raymond will become the first Black American designer to present at Paris Haute Couture Week, a significant moment in his ascent within the fashion industry.
His fashion label Pyer Moss, which has been invited to be a guest member of the official Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, will show its first couture collection in July.
The historic first comes amid ongoing conversations about how the fashion industry can combat racial prejudice and disparities within its own ranks and more broadly.
In an interview with CNN Style in 2019, Jean-Raymond described Pyer Moss as an “art project that operates in the fashion space.” The brand, which he founded in 2013, embraces the power of fashion as a storytelling device, often weaving theater, activism and social commentary into its collections and runway shows.
Jean-Raymond’s 2018 project “American, Also,” was a three-part retelling of the American story, which included the history of Black cowboys, as well as the daily experiences of Black families. For the latter, artist Derrick Adams created 11 artworks that reflected Black life, which Jean-Raymond turned into garments shown at New York Fashion Week.
EU: No Funding or European Observers for Referendum in Haiti
AFP / PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI - The European Union announced Thursday that it would neither finance the organization of the referendum scheduled for June 27 in Haiti nor send observers for this election, deeming the process insufficiently transparent and democratic in a country plagued by insecurity and political instability.
"The conditions for financial and technical support for the organization of the elections are absolutely not met at this stage, so we have refused to contribute to this process as it is," said the ambassador of the European Union to Haiti, Sylvie Tabesse.
"We consider that the process does not give all the guarantees of transparency and democracy that we would be entitled to expect, therefore … if the [Haitian] government asked us, we are not considering to respond positively for an observation mission," added the diplomat during a meeting with several journalists in the Haitian capital.
Since January 2020, President Jovenel Moise has governed by decrees and without checks and balances because of the lack of elections in recent years.
The president has drawn up a busy electoral calendar for 2021. In addition to the presidential, legislative and local elections in the fall, he wants to submit to a popular vote a project for a new constitution.
Last week, the United States renewed its call for the organization of elections in Haiti while affirming its opposition to a constitutional change.
Despite these reservations from the international community, the Haitian government refuses to give up its project.
"A referendum is an act of sovereignty. It mainly concerns Haitians: It is they who decide whether or not they want a referendum to change the constitution," Haitian Prime Minister Claude Joseph said Tuesday.
The organization of this election stirs criticism even in Moise’s camp because the chosen procedure does not seem to respect the provisions of the current constitution.
Written in 1987, after the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship, the text currently in force declares that "any popular consultation aimed at modifying the constitution by referendum is formally prohibited."
The grip of gangs in the country has worsened in recent months, allowing an upsurge in kidnappings for ransom in Port-au-Prince and in the provinces.