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Vaccinated – to get or not to get

Aug 10, 2021 Editorial

Kaieteur News – Matters are coming to a head, with more official pressure applied, and doors being slammed shut. This is the still-developing story around the issue of vaccination. The situation and choice before citizens boil down to this: to get vaccinated or to resist for as long as it takes, as is individually practical. After that, the outlook is barren, and brings objecting citizens’ right back to square one: they have to get vaccinated, and that should be the end of that.
Though we at this paper have our own ideas and challenging circumstances, we encourage our fellow Guyanese to make the hard choice and get vaccinated. We think it is a good thing that protects self and many others, and that it is better to have it, than not having it. There is full appreciation for legitimate fears that hobble many of our fellow citizens, but getting vaccinated is the most powerful option that is out there and currently available. In fact, in some locations, those to be vaccinated have a choice right now between the AstraZeneca, Sputnik, and Sinopharm vaccines. Getting vaccinated could save a life, especially number one.
We understand also that there are concerns that the COVID-19 virus, already at proven pandemic proportions, seems to have a life of its own, is a constantly moving target, and gives the impression of being indestructible and unstoppable. To put in a different way, the vaccines may not be as effective as it is being marketed, because there are so many unknowns still surrounding this virus and its operations. This makes taking the vaccines an exercise that is more about hope and a prayer, as opposed to having scientific underpinnings. While some of this cannot be challenged with the strength and backing of complete authority, there is some truth to the concerns of those numbering in the ranks of the hesitant and, hence, resisting getting vaccinated.
It is our position that such thinking and conclusion is a step in the wrong direction, a hopelessly entangling one that leads to the wrong places, and could yield the worst of results. The statistics have confirmed that those who have been vaccinated have a higher threshold of resistance, a lesser probability of being infected by the virus, and a stronger chance of overcoming it without serious illness. From our perspective, this is a winning hand, as there is nothing better out there, no other bird in the hand. For, on the other hand, those who have not been vaccinated have succumbed in greater numbers and more easily.
We want to be clear on a few more things with this virus and the personal (up to this time) decision on whether to get vaccinated or not. The statistics are a work in progress, with information and new developments still coming in from all over. Notwithstanding this, there is a core of firm facts and numbers with which to work, and which give cause for hope, and for reliance on the positives that could come from being vaccinated. Also, it has been said before, but we see no harm in saying it again: getting vaccinated is not a foolproof, virus-resistant remedy. Because there have been some, albeit in small numbers, who did receive one or the other of the vaccines, and they still turned out to be among the stricken and fallen.
With all this as context, and in mind, the Guyana Government has been moving forward with its vaccination programme, as well as with the barriers it has been erecting to protect those who are allowed access to the inside of government buildings (and other public spaces). By default, this translates to not a full rollout of mandatory vaccination, but a carefully drawn and targeted arc of prohibition that serves to block a slew of citizens with legitimate business to conduct at government offices. This completely bars them from doing their business there. Whatever the business, even if it is of an urgent and sensitive character, it will have to be put on hold, until something gives.
As we see it, the Government is not going to give ground. The onus, therefore, is on citizens to comply and quickly. Our last words are: get vaccinated.

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