Dear Editor,
Yet again, our people are being warned against complacency regarding the still very deadly COVID-19 pandemic. The word from the Ministry of Health is that the COVID-19 vaccination rate is not where it should be, and this is at a time when the country is currently seeing a new wave of infections. The recent figures show that the Ministry of Health reported that a total of 32 new COVID-19 cases were recorded from 1530 tests, taking the overall number of confirmed cases to 63,804. In fact, over the past week or so, the active cases were more than 265, and on Saturday, the new numbers recorded in the following regions were: three – Region Three; 20 – Region Four; four – Region Five; two – Region Six; and three – Region Nine. These returns suggest not just complacency, but a level of carelessness that can result in many innocent and careful people becoming infected to the point of reaching fatality.
Let me first state that the World Health Organisation is still advocating for extra-care even though many mandatory restrictions have now been eased. The latest plea is that all citizens must protect themselves and those in close proximity. The word is still intact; people must: Get vaccinated as soon as it’s your turn and follow local guidance on vaccination; Keep physical distance of at least 1 metre from others, even if they don’t appear to be sick; Avoid crowds and close contact; Wear a properly fitted mask when physical distancing is not possible and in poorly ventilated settings; Clean your hands frequently with alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water; Cover your mouth and nose with a bent elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze; Dispose of used tissues immediately and clean hands regularly; and they develop symptoms or test positive for COVID-19, they are to self-isolate until they recover.
So, he has a right to be concerned, that is, our Health Minister, who stated that “… the rise in cases is a worrying trend …” He explained that “The Sars-Cov2 is a very tricky virus…there are different variants and sub-variants … some are very contagious. In January of this year, we saw a spike in cases, close to 30,000 cases in that month before we saw a significant decline… But the sub-variant is highly transmissible, so we have seen over the last few days a rise in cases.” This kind of reality should ‘hit home,’ but it is not, and the sad thing is that many who are taking all the necessary steps in terms of getting vaccinated and exercising due caution may become victims of the ‘brave and foolish.’
Let me remind our citizens, like the Minister did, that “…After that, the immunity begins to wane, (we) need to take the booster shot … but a lot of people have stopped coming for the vaccines because they believe COVID is over.” It is not over, and from what I have read, in our land, many Guyanese are at risk given that a sizeable portion of the population has co-morbidities.
Secondly, I need to call attention to the medical and scientific fact that getting vaccinated is nothing new and chancy. It is a well-established universal phenomenon in medicine. In this day, credible information is so readily available, but I will still point out some things.
We need to know that vaccines differ from other medical drugs in that they are designed to prevent disease, rather than treat it. They do this by priming a person’s immune system to recognise a specific disease-causing bacteria, virus or other pathogen. This “memory” can last years, or in some cases for life, which is why vaccination can be so effective, stopping people from getting sick rather than waiting until disease occurs.
Further, vaccines prime the immune system to detect a particular virus or bacteria by showing it a harmless version of the pathogen, or part of it – much like giving a bloodhound a rag to sniff – so that it can remember it and is able to mount a defence if the person ever becomes infected. They typically do this by stimulating the production of antibodies, which are proteins made by our bodies to fight disease. This can also help stimulate other parts of our immune defences, such as T cells. This is the basic premise for how all vaccines work.
So, I am with Dr Anthony, who detailed that “We also must remind ourselves that we are in a pandemic, and in this pandemic one of the most effective tools that we have is to use vaccination to immunise people so that even if they get infected, they would not get the most severe form of the infection.”
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), a country should strive to get 70 per cent of its population vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of June 2022. Therefore, with the requisite personnel, facility and vaccines, Guyana can very well achieve this important goal. Guyana is now hovering quite close to this target. The Minister pointed out that “We are not very far from achieving that target of 70 per cent, we are in our 60s, and so if we make an additional effort, we will be able to get to that 70 per cent mark before June of this year.”
I hope we do – it is vital indeed.
Yours truly,
H Singh
