One of the world’s poorest countries has one of the world’s lowest COVID death rates

The following article was written by Jason Beaubien and was published by NPR last May 4, 2021.

In this article, Beaubien introduces us to Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world. Annually, the nation struggles with infectious diseases, but they seem to have dodged the COVID-19. Unlike Europe which had a fatality rate of 3,000 deaths per million, and the United States which recorded 1,800 deaths per million, Haiti had a death rate of 22 per million.

The article also says that lockdowns were never fully implemented in the country, “Because if they don’t work, they don’t eat, their family doesn’t eat”, says Dr. Jean Pape, co-chair of the national commission dealing with COVID-19. Pape adds that the commission was dissolved last year due to the very low cases of COVID.

Life in the country has gone back to pre-pandemic times. Schools are open, buses and markets are crowded, and no one wears masks in public. To top it off, not a single COVID vaccine has been administered in Haiti. When the World Health Organization (WHO) offered to ship the AstraZeneca vaccines to Haiti, the government rejected it.

What is behind Haiti’s low COVID case and death rates? Dr. Jacqueline Gautier, who is a member of the national technical advisory group on COVID vaccination and the director of the St. Damien Pediatric Hospital says it could be due to a number of factors.

She said, “The pandemic may have had less of an impact in Haiti…because it’s a young country. The average age is 23. COVID-19 infections tend to be less severe in younger people. It’s also possible… that a significant number of people who were infected by the virus last summer showed no symptoms, and built up immunity. Also, houses tend to be open with plenty of ventilation”.

Editor’s Note: If there is a country that proves everything we have been saying on this website, it is Haiti. Countries should learn from their experience. At the same time, citizens who believe that masking and lockdowns are the solutions to the COVID “crisis” should look into Haiti and ask: why hasn’t Haitians been wiped out by COVID? Why have they been largely unaffected, when their health protocols have been so loose? How did they manage to lift their lockdowns ahead of other, wealthier countries? And why aren’t they looking at vaccines as the ultimate savior of mankind?

And then, we encourage our readers to look into other countries and places in the world where life is now back to normal [see Sweden registered lower mortality in 2020 than most of Europe, How Finland and Norway proved Sweden’s COVID approach works, No lockdown Belarus shows how herd immunity works, Florida lifts all coronavirus restrictions]. What is similar in their “pandemic” responses?