Dear Editor,
Last weekend I had a disturbing conversation with a taxi driver. The conversation began with me asking if he received the COVID Vaccine. This taxi driver gave a very long speech about the pharmaceutical companies and their alleged involvement in the pandemic. He didn’t stop there, he refuted that senior government officials were vaccinated and shared a conversation he said he had with a health care provider. I repeated this conversation to a colleague and he too shared what was said by another person. Well, I was disappointed, a bit confused and at lost for words. I think as health care workers that we should be careful how we share our opinions. I think that we should keep our opinions to ourselves especially if it is likely to create confusion in the minds of the citizenry. We should desist from undermining the efforts of the government to save lives especially during a time when many are losing their love ones to this pandemic.
We should commend the government in its efforts to ensure all eligible Guyanese are vaccinated. To date, almost 150,000 Guyanese are vaccinated. While we are not a rich nation, approximately twenty percent of the population has received at least the first dose of the COVID vaccine. This is great news. Kudos to the authorities. However as successful this is, I believe if we could share with citizens why the vaccine is necessary for them to take then more Guyanese would have been vaccinated. As health care workers, if it’s your desire not to take the vaccine, please don’t deny others of making a personal choice to be vaccinated. Please let us continue to be responsible citizens and promote positivity.
Sincerely,
Suematra Alves
