Hi All

It is another day on the island of Barbados and over the last few days it has moved away from the concern over the increasing mortality rate of the elderly who have been killed by COVID19, now to the matter of vaccination and not only that but which vaccine should a person take. Well the government of India through a deal has sold the Government of Barbados the Oxford AstraZeneca Covid 19 vaccine and based on its characteristic of only needing normal refrigeration that works well for the island, so the government does not need to build any new infrastructure as in the case of Moderna and Pfizer which require subzero temperature storage. 

Anyway, the government has indicated that persons between the ages of 18 and 75 are encouraged to take the vaccine, but guess what people are resisting to take OAZ vaccine. You may ask the question why since vaccines have been around for ages. As children we have taken measles, mumps and rubella vaccines, we have taken polio vaccines and we were shephereded like sheep to take these vaccines, what is so different now? Well for one, It has been all the political media play and conspiracy theories around covid19 ranging from 5G to Wuhan China and back again. Honestly, I never known a vaccine to have been developed or adapted to a novelle virus so quickly and seemingly with emergency clearance for wide spread use.  In addition, why am I only hearing so much about success rates and yet not about side effects of the vaccines. It seems to me that the whole ordeal is over played to the detriment of the global citizen. 

Look I will be honest, I know we can resist and I will resist until as such time as it becomes mandatory to take the vaccine. Until then no. Here are my layman perspectives on what I am not taking the vaccine. First of all, I am not sure about the validity of the PCR test. That is a whole other story. So our Prime Minister advised as follows:

• The OAZ Covid 19 vaccine will not stop you from contracting Covid 19
• The OAZ Covid 19 vaccine will not stop you from infecting others with Covid 19
• The OAZ Covid 19 vaccine will mitigate the risk exposure of more severe Covid 19 symptons ( persons with underlying complications)
• You are still required to wear your mask.
• Still required to stand 6 feet apart.
• Still required to sanitize.

What about those people who are asymptomatic are they  required to still take the vaccine when their body is currently handling the virus?

So all the government related organisations have been instructed by the various ministries to have their frontline workers which are a subset of essential workers to be vaccinated. Guess what? That was met with protest and response of infringement of human rights to not participate. It is not yet mandatory by law to take the vaccine, but I can see it on the horizon. Anyway, some people have taken it and have had the following side effects

• Chills
• Sore throat
• Migraine like headaches
• Boady ache
• Increase thirst
• Nausea
• Vomiting

Point to note here this is only the first dose of the vaccine. There is another does to be taken at 10 weeks. Now, on a review done by MedCram, they indicated that the first vaccine is only a half dose and not a full dose. However, the dose to be taken in 10 weeks time is a full dose. Whatever, is that measurement. In my opinion, I am waiting to see what happens on the second dose of the vaccine to see what is really going on.

I have termed Covid 19 as a covert assassin, because it has changed with its host and it has mutated as time advances. It is almost the perfect covert agent camouflaging  and adapting as the medical faculties respond with vaccines. I almost forgot to say that the medical experts say that there is not surety about the efficacy of the OAZ against other variants of Covid 19.

So what are you going to do? Keep safe, where you mask, wash your hands.

Keep good peeps.