COVID-19 is not yet over!

Nov 22, 2022 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Kaieteur News – Guyanese have dropped their guards following a period of almost 3 months in which there were no COVID-19 deaths and only a small number of daily cases. But that situation is now in reverse with two deaths announced yesterday.Tow persons from Region 6, one elderly and one persons aged 43 recently succumbed while being infected with the disease.

The total number of detected daily cases is low but this is because of low testing because of most infected persons only having mild cases. However this past week, there have been an increases on some days in infections,. But the total number of persons in the Intensive Care Unit has suddenly spiked to 4 and this is a worrying development.

The government’s vaccination campaign has slowed, as it has in most countries of the world. Less than 60% of the total population has been fully vaccinated (with 2 doses) in Guyana. This is an extremely worrying statistic even though it is far higher than many Caribbean countries including Barbados, Trinidad and Jamaica.

At that level of vaccination, herd immunity is not going to be achieved. Since the rate of vaccination has been slowing for some time locally due to vaccine resistance, suppression of deaths will have to be a priority of the Ministry of Health.

This means that greater attention has to be paid to protecting the vulnerable. The Ministry had anno9unced earlier than immunity begin to wane about four months after vaccination. Well, it has been more than four months since the last booster dose was given to those wishing to take it.

No announcement has been made as to whether there will be another booster dose for those who have received their last booster dose. But this silence is typical of how the Ministry of Health works. After more than 2 years it has continued with its unimaginative daily scorecard of infections and deaths and persons in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit.

A World Health Organization expert argued that there is not strong evidence that there is not strong evidence to support taking a booster for those who have already been vaccinated. But there is strong evidence that new variants are emerging and that there is need for protection against these variants.

This is where the new bi-variant vaccine comes in. This vaccine is said to offer protection against the main original variant as well as the Omicron variant – thus the name bivalent.

About a month ago, US President Joe Biden received his shot on the bivalent vaccine. It is being rolled out for elderly and the vulnerable, immune-compromised persons and frontline health workers being given priority. But the vaccine can also be administered to persons over 6 years of age.

The United Kingdom is offering the bivalent to persons over 50 years of age. But with a fresh wave of COVID-19 infections expected over the autumn and winter seasons, the UK is also stepping up booster shots.

In the meantime, in Guyana there is no word as to whether Guyana has sought to procure any supplies of the bivalent vaccines. It may not have seen the need to do so but the least that those highly-paid individuals in the Ministry of Health can do is to at least let the public know about its future plans to protect those who wish to be protected.

In the first two and half years years since the pandemic, Guyana recorded more than 1280 deaths. This is more than seven times the average number of annual road fatalities. Too many persons have died in Guyana and we developed a sort of selective amnesia towards this problem.

COVID-19 is far from over. Guyanese are learning to live with the virus. But living with this deadly virus means that we should still be taking precautions and adopting an evidence-based approach to infections.

With four persons in the COVID -19 Intensive Care Unit and two new deaths as at yesterday, the situation is far from comfortable. But do not tell that to Guyanese and their government.’

The general attitude is that everything is fine. But it is not judging from the recent deaths and increases in severely infected persons.

(The views expressed in this articles are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

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