When the vaccine was first introduced there was a debate about the safety of vaccines. People consulted their doctors. Then there were those reacting to their colleagues who became sick after vaccination.
The messages flew fast and furious. Those in support of the vaccine argued that it would keep most people out of hospital if they became infected.
Of course, there was and still is the misconception that if one were vaccinated then one would be immune to COVID-19. Nothing could be further from the truth.
But there were the anti-vaccines. These are the people who fear the vaccine. So messages went out that there was a major attempt to reduce the global population; that the main targets were Black people; that the vaccine made men impotent; that people could still get sick and possibly die although they are vaccinated.
The end result is that some are taking their chances.
But the state is insisting on having its say. All over the world vaccination is becoming mandatory. In Guyana, suddenly the people who are not vaccinated are becoming outcasts. They cannot just walk into a government facility.
There are reports of people being locked out of hospitals. In Linden, people with sick children were denied entry. It took the pressure from the crowd to allow the guards at the gate to allow some of these people to enter.
So there is the concern that the old-age pensioners who have not been vaccinated could be denied their pension. They could be denied entry to post offices. Those who collect their pension from the National Insurance Scheme will not be able to walk into the NIS compound for their pension; unless critically ill then people cannot be taken to the hospitals. And who carries them in?
The situation has gone even further. Minibus drivers must be vaccinated before they can conduct their daily business.
This is not unique to Guyana. The same COVID-19 protocols are being demanded throughout the Caribbean although I haven’t heard anything of the sort in Jamaica and some of the smaller islands. The Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines suffered a split skull when a stone hit him during an anti-vaccine protest.
There have also been protests in Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, and Guyana. People say that it is their body and that they must decide what they put into it. But people have been sent home from their jobs if they are not vaccinated and will not be paid for the days that they are off the job.
The government has really clamped down on the anti-vaccines.
Those who have been vaccinated say that those who are not vaccinated are putting them at risk. Does that mean that those who are not vaccinated are more susceptible to contracting COVID-19? That has not been proven.
Many professionals say that the government has a right to protect its people. If mandatory vaccination is such away, then that is how life would be. However, there should have been coercive measures. The view is that the COVID situation is such in Guyana that the government cannot take the time to coerce people.
Then again, the government action may be the case of a mindset that says to the nation that people must do what they are told to.
It must be a case of the World Health Organisation issuing these protocols because suddenly, countries in this region have decided to demand that people be vaccinated. And in the case of Guyana, the number of people rushing to be vaccinated has increased. But are there enough vaccines?
I have known people waiting for more than two months for their second dose of the Sputnik vaccine. When the last two shipments came the people administering the vaccine said that they were attending to those who had been vaccinated earlier. And in a blink, the supplies ran out.
A similar situation existed in Canada to the point where the medical community began to tell people that they could mix—take one vaccine as the first dose and another as the second dose. Some people did mix.
The irony is that the vaccine does not prevent an individual from contracting COVID 19. It does not even prevent a person from transmitting the virus. According to the Health Minister, it would reduce the severity of the disease in the event of an infection.
The reality is that the vaccines are all in the experimental stage. And the largest subjects are found globally. Those who take the vaccine are providing evidence of the efficacy of the vaccine. They are the control group. Those who do not are the people against whom the success of the vaccines is a measure
