PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Trinidad and Tobago's government Wednesday said it had been forced to end the booster program for people between the ages of 12 to 18 because they had failed to make use of thousands of doses of a vaccine supplied by the United states that expired at the end of last month.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – Barbados Saturday confirmed its first case of the Monkeypox virus with officials indicating that the island is fully prepared to handle any cases of the virus that has already been detected in two other CARICOM countries, namely Jamaica and the Bahamas.

KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ) is expressing some level of concern regarding the moves by the government to employ temporary healthcare workers from the diaspora to address staff shortages.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – The Omicron BA.5 subvariant, discovered here just over a week ago, is responsible for a rapid increase in COVID-19 infections, Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram disclosed on Wednesday.

GENEVA – The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) say that the COVID-19 pandemic has fueled the largest continued backslide in vaccinations in three decades.

BELMOPAN, Belize – Less than 24 hours after St. Lucia confirmed the Omicron BA.5 subvariant of the coronavirus had been detected on the island, Belize has become the next CARICOM country to confirm the presence of the subvariant.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – The Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP) is urging people here to continue exercising greater care as the island faces the threat of infections from the more transmissible COVID-19 BA4 and BA5 variants.

WASHINGTON, DC – The director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Dr. Carissa Etienne Wednesday warned that as the Omicron sub-lineages drive a new wave of COVID-19 infections and cases of the Monkeypox virus continue to rise, countries should work together to meet the growing demand for vaccines, medicines, and other health equipment in the region.

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton, Wednesday confirmed that Jamaica had recorded its first case of the monkeypox virus.

HAVANA, Cuba – Health Minister Carilda Peña Garcia has voiced concern about a spike in the mosquito borne Dengue Fever as three serotypes of Dengue Fever out of four present in Latin America and the Caribbean, are in Cuba. 

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Trinidad and Tobago has accused developed countries of hoarding “stockpiling” vaccines to treat the Monkeypox virus, saying that the action is reminiscent of the situation that existed with the procurement of  COVID-19 vaccines.

WASHINGTON, DC – The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is urging countries and health professionals including those in the Caribbean  to step up the fight against syphilis and congenital syphilis, though preventable and curable, but affects thousands of people each year.