Why Should I Get Vaccinated?
Journalist Ira Mathur has taken the first shot from the first rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Why should I get vaccinated for COVID-19?
According to the UK medical health regulator, Medicines and Healthcare Products Agency (MHRA), by getting vaccinated, your chances of dying of COVID is reduced to one in one million and chances of getting sick enough to go to the hospital change from one in five to one in 50,000.
Without vaccination, there is a one in five chance that you will need to go to the hospital and a one in 50 chance that you, whatever your age, will die.
How safe is the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm?
Sinopharm (a two-jab vaccine) has been administered to an estimated 65 million people across China, Pakistan, Bahrain, and United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE’s economy has fully reopened following mass Sinopharm vaccination. Like all WHO-approved vaccines, while it may not stop you from getting the virus, it will prevent death and hospitalisation.
What about the reports of blood clots in using AstraZeneca?
The UK Medical Health Regulator confirmed that of a total of more than 20 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, only 19 people have died from blood clots. The general risk of clots following a jab is estimated to be one in 250,000–or four in a million.
According to health authorities, there are no cases of blood clots by recipients of this vaccine in T&T.
What is it like to be admitted to any of the COVID-19 centres? From all accounts, hospitals and COVID centres in T&T are close to maximum capacity.
Hospital beds, ventilators and oxygen are in short supply. The staff is limited. You will not be allowed visitors or family members to bring anything or even to see you.
Hospitals are only admitting people who are crucially sick. The death rate in T&T per capita is among the highest globally because we have among the highest comorbidities in the region including obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer and diabetes.
I haven’t gotten it yet, what about if I just take precautions and socially distance? You have been safe because, between March 2020 and March 2021 there were few cases, less than 30 a day, in T&T. With 600 cases a day, even with the State of Emergency, chances of you getting the virus have jumped by 5,000 per cent.
They made these vaccines very quickly. Should I be concerned?
The Sinopharm vaccine is made the same way as the vaccines we give our children when they are born and others like polio, yellow fever etc. This method is tried and tested.
Yes, they were made quickly, but all that means is that governments and pharmaceutical companied sped up the process as a response to the rising death rates globally.
What if I have asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart problems?
In most cases, if you have any of these comorbidities, you need to get a vaccine more than people who do not have them. These diseases make the effects of COVID-19 worse. If you have any concerns you should speak to your doctor.
What should I expect if I take the vaccine?
The vaccination process takes two minutes, and you must wait 20 minutes afterwards before you leave. You can expect to get a very mild fever and some mild muscle pains for two days. The Sinopharm vaccine has fewer side effects, according to the New York Times safety ranking report and other websites.
You will need to get two shots four-six weeks apart. You are unlikely to get side effects with the second shot.
What about the need to take booster shots?
All the vaccines will need booster shots. Why? The virus mutates and changes, so the booster shots protect you against the slightly changed virus.
Is COVID-19 a conspiracy?
In T&T, we have heard many conspiracy theories about COVID-19, including,
• It’s a plan so that pharmaceutical companies to make money
The cost of lockdowns, spending on health services, the number of deaths in the US, the UK, and even T&T is phenomenal. No government will allow this.
Yes, some pharmaceutical companies make money from COVID-19 vaccines, but some are giving them out on cost.
• It’s a plan to control people by Injecting them with microchips There are no microchips in the vaccine and no clear advantage to anyone to do so.
• It’s a plan to kill Black/Indian people Observe the path of the virus in India and South Africa. The virus is killing people. The vaccine is saving lives. Up to 70 per cent of us need to take vaccines for us to achieve herd immunity, so every person taking the vaccine helps us get there.
All the countries where there are many people vaccinated are going back to normal. We all want that.