Now that he has received his first dose of the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, Director of Medical and Professional Services, Dr Fawcett Jeffrey, says that he feels at ease knowing that when he goes to work from now on that he would have some measure of protection and the consequences would not be deadly if he gets exposed to the virus.
Dozens of frontline healthcare workers attached to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) and the Infectious Diseases Hospital received their first dose of the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine that was donated to Guyana by the Government of Barbados on Wednesday.
Jeffrey was the second person to receive his first dose of the vaccine at the Infectious Diseases Hospital today. Following his inoculation, Jeffrey commented that he knows that this is a step into the unknown and for this reason many persons are skeptical about COVID-19 vaccines, but for him, as a medical professional, he knows that that vaccines are just an attenuated form of a disease and this allows the body to learn about the virus after which it will mount a response.
“So I would say to anyone, taking a vaccine is usually not a negative thing but most times it is positive. There are side effects and there are reactions that you can get but the reaction that you usually get is the same when taking any other vaccine,” he explained.
Further, he said there might be questions whether the vaccines will work on variants but he knows that this particular vaccine gives reasonably good coverage from the variants according to studies that have been done.
He noted that as a healthcare professional he has to be attending to patients on a daily basis and be among other staff members who might have been exposed to patients who are infected with the virus. “So trying to get some measure of protection is always a good thing and that is the reason I am taking the vaccine,” he said.
Additionally, he said that now that he has received his first dose he is at ease knowing the when he goes to work he will have some measure of protection and even if he gets exposed to the virus he knows that the consequences will not be as severe. He noted that he is getting to an age where he would be considered among the high risk group and this means that hospitalisation as a result of being infected by the virus is more likely.
He acknowledged the importance of healthcare workers receiving the vaccine pointing out that this will allow them to continue their work unhindered with little fear of getting infected.
Jeffrey stated that people are always afraid of the unknown, recalling that when the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed persons were very scared because they didn’t know what it was about and it was difficult to get staff to attend to patients for this reason.
Almost a year on, he said, everything has completely changed because now everybody has a better understanding of the virus and they take all precautionary measures because these have proven to be effective against infection.
He added that skepticism regarding the vaccine is there but once persons are educated and see that the most senior healthcare workers are taking the vaccine they just might change their minds and get vaccinated.
“We are working with people and colleagues so that they can understand that this is the only way we are going to win the pandemic,” he stated.
Jeffrey noted that the vaccination was not painful and it was like receiving any other vaccine.
