Barbados has fallen below the vaccination level needed to keep dangerous diseases at bay, prompting a warning from Minister of Health and Wellness Senator Lisa Cummins that the island was leaving itself vulnerable to illnesses “one single flight away”.
She said while Barbados had made gains in restoring childhood immunisation coverage after the COVID-19 years, it remained short of the critical 95 per cent threshold required for herd immunity – the collective protection that shields entire communities, especially the most vulnerable.
Speaking during a special open day for Vaccination Week in the Americas at the Edgar Cochrane Polyclinic in Wildey, St Michael, yesterday, she urged parents not to delay, dismiss or ignore scheduled vaccines, as complacency could reverse decades of public health progress. “These vaccines are protecting us from diseases that are one single flight away from our shores,” Cummins said. “If we don’t reach the 95 per cent threshold and we don’t have the herd immunity, then our communities are at risk.”
She disclosed that health authorities recently monitored a visitor for a possible vaccine-preventable illness, forcing officials to consider surveillance systems, exposure risks and the prospect of isolation measures before the person was cleared.
“In those few moments between a suspected case and a time where that patient is cleared, you begin thinking about our surveillance protocols. You begin thinking about how many persons this individual, if they’re confirmed, would have been exposed to and how many persons have to go into isolation.”
For a country that once prided itself on strong immunisation coverage, the minister said, the current shortfall should be taken seriously.
She reminded the audience that Barbados had built an enviable vaccination system since 1969 under the Health Services Act and Expanded Programme On Immunisation, protecting generations of Barbadians and helping to eliminate or suppress illnesses such as polio, measles, diphtheria and rubella.
Anti-polio campaigns
Many older Barbadians, she noted, would remember receiving the sugar cube used during anti-polio campaigns.
“That little thing, that one intervention, was significant in eradicating polio here in Barbados.”
Cummins said there were encouraging signs in 2025, with first-dose coverage for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine increasing
to 89 per cent, while second-dose coverage jumped from 76 to 86 per cent.
She pointed to what she said was a flood of misinformation during and after the COVID-19 pandemic as one reason confidence had been shaken.
“A person just needed to have a cell phone or a computer and Dr Google and they became the medical health experts.
“It has created any number of challenges in our communities because persons, rather than taking the expert guidance of medical health-trained professionals, they have taken the advice oftentimes of social media experts. It has put our communities at risk.”
At the same time, she acknowledged that vaccine hesitancy was not always rooted in fear or disbelief. A ministry study in 2024 found most parents still valued immunisation, but the pressures of modern life often got in the way. “Life happens and . . . people get busy. Some parents sometimes forget appointments. Others are not always aware of when a dose is due,” she said.
Cummins sought to reassure parents that vaccines used in Barbados met the highest safety standards and were constantly monitored.
Urging Barbadians to use the services available at clinics island-wide, she said missed doses could be corrected and advice was always available through public health nurses.
“Vaccination is more than a personal choice. It is a shared collective responsibility. Your decision protects not just your child and those in your family and those in your community, but it helps to protect your neighbour and our country.”
(CLM)
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