Voodoo, rum, Virgin Mary, magico-religious or when we talk about vaccination figures in the West Indies in the national media

The health crisis which is accelerating in Martinique and Guadeloupe has been at the heart of information meetings on national channels for the past few days. Guests, qualified as experts, have, in recent days, made statements that have deeply shocked our departments.

4,178 Covid cases recorded in 4 days in Guadeloupe (since Monday August 2)... 1,584 new cases recorded in Martinique over two days (between Wednesday August 4 and Thursday August 5). Health authorities have for a few weeks sounded the alarm in the two islands, reinforcing the restrictive measures.

Guadeloupeans and Martiniquans are therefore experiencing a new confinement.

Vaccination remains the solution, hammer the authorities of the two regions where the vaccination coverage rates are not amazing. For people over 12, it is 27.18% in Guadeloupe (at least one injection). In Martinique, the number of people with a complete vaccination schedule (1st and 2nd injections) is 55,873, or 18.64% of the population.

And so, 8,000 kilometers from the West Indies, one wonders how to explain the low vaccination rate in the two departments.

"A lot of problems come from culture and rum..." says a doctor

Some go there with their analysis oscillating between clichés and prejudices. Because, for the time being, no sociological data can answer this question.

But that did not prevent Dr. Hervé Boissin, guest of journalist Darius Rochebin at 8 p.m. on the LCI channel, on July 31, from giving an answer that is not scientific. And that leaves you speechless.

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A more than biased comment, without any reaction from the presenter, which caused an uproar on the web. Among the outraged Internet users, the former Martinican journalist, Audrey Pulvar. The elected official underlined the clichés of the speech.

An intervention that also made us react. The president of the Departmental Council, by way of press release "deplores this serious slippage of a health professional supposed to mobilize his expertise and his knowledge within the framework of his educational and curative mission in the service of the population". Guy Losbar says he is appalled by the words of Dr Hervé Boissin.

Remarks by the director of the ARS deemed "disrespectful"

Shortly before, Valérie Denux, director of the Regional Health Agency of Guadeloupe was invited by Bénédicte Tassart on the RTL Soir program to talk about the health situation in the department. Asked about the vaccination figures, she is asked if there is a movement that endangers the population. The question has challenged many Internet users. The answer as well. The director of the ARS answers in the affirmative.

Remarks which made react in particular Victoire Jasmin who judges the remarks of doctor Hervé Boissin and the director of the ARS "contemptuous and disrespectful". The senator from Guadeloupe asks for a public apology.

The same day, during the weekly Covid update, questioned about this interview by Thierry Philippe of Guadeloupe La 1ère, Valérie Denux recalled that there were several factors as to the low vaccination rate. For the director of the ARS, in Guadeloupe, "the traditional aspect is important", likewise, "religion is very important here again".

The Virgin Mary also prevents vaccination...

Another set, other words that provoked anger. The communicator and consultant of BFM, invited on set at the beginning of August, Amélie Lebreton, after recalling that the cultural and historical foundations are not the same in France and in the West Indies, quoted an article from the national daily Le Parisien which explained that the distrust of our populations would come "for example, from what happened on the chlordecone scandal where the whole population was vaccinated and where there were nevertheless a lot of things that were hidden" and that today today, there is a very strong reluctance.

Before adding that in our territories, "there is also the weight of religion". It's no secret that many Guadeloupeans and Martiniquans are Catholics, as in France. Except that in our latitudes, and only here, religion can slow down vaccination.

Wild allegations

A process is underway, within the University of the West Indies, to put an end to approximations and optimize communication around the epidemic. Fred Reno, professor of political science and director of the CAGI (Center for Geopolitical and International Analysis, research team from the University of the West Indies) who, with his students, will work on resistance to vaccination, in an attempt to provide explanations. He believes that the allegations heard on the national media, as to the reasons why the Antillo-Guyanese refuse the anti-Covid vaccine are, for the most part, far-fetched.