Death of Joshua Henry should prompt concerns and questions from citizens, civil society and the media

Oct 09, 2021 Letters

Dear Editor,

The death of 13-year-old Joshua Henry after taking the second dose of Pfizer vaccine should be of concern to every Guyanese, vaccinated or not. The account given by the family that he went to take the vaccine unaccompanied by an adult is one such concern, because little Joshua was not of consenting age. Another concern is, based on media reports, that the autopsy said Joshua died from “cerebral [brain] haemorrhage,” then the Ministry of Health said he had the pre-existing condition of “cerebral aneurysm.”
Shouldn’t there be concern what would have caused the aneurysm to rupture? Readings of the COVID-19 vaccine say there are rare cases of blood clot after taking the shot, but it is proving difficult to find information that a side effect is bleeding (apart from some who may experience a little blood at the needle site). Could the Ministry provide an answer to this? This isn’t a pleasant situation and questions should be flooding the Ministry.
Another abnormality, which should spike the interest of the media and other interest groups, is the high percentage of vaccinated persons (whole or partial) the Ministry is reporting that are dying from complications related to the virus. In no Western or progressive society would a 14 percent be accepted as normal, nor would the relevant interest groups and civil society not sound an alarm and request a probe.
Something is not right. Guyanese are worried and deserve answers. The mortality statistics for the vaccinated are damning. Does Guyana have epidemiologist(s) looking at the situation? Instead of the government’s strategy of deflecting responsibility and attention, shouldn’t these cases be plotted and traced for commonality in the instances of deaths, vaccine batches, areas of the affected population, ethnicity, etc., and root causes? We should be looking for scientific solutions to what is evidently a problem. It is not sufficient to settle for only knowing or reporting that people who have taken the vaccines are dying from complications related to the virus at a disturbing rate. The fact that the younger population is amongst the dead gives rise to more concern. It raises issues about quality control, the administering of the vaccine, proper pre-screening, whether those being vaccinated were infected or not, etc.
From a commonsense and/or educated standpoint there are so many things seemingly out of control. Here’s hoping citizens have not lost the spirit of camaraderie/fellowship to feel for each other and value the life of all. As the government continues to botch the management of the pandemic, it is of utmost concern there aren’t enough sober minds and responsible organisations, including the media, asking the appropriate questions and demanding answers.

Minette A. Bacchus

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