PRIME Minister Manasseh (PM) Sogavare during a recent national address assured the nation about the effectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccines, AstraZeneca. In a demonstration of his confidence in the vaccine, he became the first person in the Solomon Islands to be vaccinated with AstraZeneca.
During his nationwide address, the Prime Minister said the recent research indicates that Covid-19 vaccine can protect the vaccinated person from contracting the virus.
“If the vaccinated person does contract the virus, the vaccine will reduce the impact of the COVID-19 infection. In addition, the vaccinated person is unlikely to transmit the virus to others because the virus load will be too low to cause any infection on other people.
“Clear examples can be seen in countries such as the United Kingdom whose daily rate of infection dropped from a high of 68,053 new cases on 8 January 2021, to an average of 5,500 new cases a day, only 3 months into their vaccination rollout program.”
Referring to the vaccines side effects, the PM said every vaccine ever made and in current use today have side-effects.
“The AstraZeneca vaccine has been reported to cause mild side effects that are no different to other injectable medicines or other vaccines.
However, he said none of the severe side effects that have been reported after the AstraZeneca vaccination are directly caused by the vaccine.
“In fact we know that alcohol and smoking have more serious and long-term side effects.”
What the Prime Minister told the nation about the AstraZeneca vaccine is increasingly becoming evident in several countries where the vaccine has been rolled out.
The PM mentioned the drop in infection cases in the United Kingdom and the trend there is continuing with fewer cases of Covid-19, fewer deaths and much lower admissions into hospitals.
Writing just a short time ago in the UK’s mainstream press, Benjamin Mueller said, and I quote.
The first studies of Britain’s mass inoculation program showed strong evidence that the coronavirus vaccines were working as intended, offering among the clearest signs yet that the vaccines slash the rate of Covid-19 hospital admissions and may be reducing transmission of the virus.
The findings on the AstraZeneca shot, the first to emerge outside of clinical trials, represented the strongest signal yet of the effectiveness of a vaccine that much of the world is relying on to end the pandemic.
But from 28 to 34 days after the first shot, when it appeared to be at or near peak effectiveness, the AstraZeneca vaccine reduced the risk of Covid-19 hospital admissions by roughly 94 percent...
The findings were a reassuring sign about the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is the backbone of many nations’ inoculation plans.
End of quote.
Care home staff should consider it their “professional responsibility” to get a Covid vaccine, the UK’s Government’s chief medical adviser has said.
I would urge frontline staff in the Solomon Islands that so far have not had the vaccine available to them to think, also, of their professional responsibilities to others and get vaccinated, as well as minimising the risk of the deadly disease to themselves.
Addressing those hesitant to take the vaccine, the UK’s Government chief medical officer added: “Unfortunately, some misinformation about vaccines and the key thing is to go to reliable sources.”.
If you’re hearing stories about the vaccine, and you’re concerned about them, go to reliable sources such as the MHMS talk to medical staff who can actually lay out the facts because compared to the risk of Covid, the risk of a reaction to it is very much as the Prime Minister said
The WHO has endorsed the AstraZeneca vaccine as safe and I believe on all the evidence I see emerging globally that it is.
The Solomon Islands needs to seriously consider the impact the loss of the tourism sector is having on the economy, on tour operators, on hotels, on resort owners, on hospitality staff and on the country and citizens generally.
I have written twice this week about air travel ‘bubble’ arrangements existing between New Zealand and Australia and very soon similar arrangements between the Cook Islands and New Zealand.
Several hundred Samoan workers flew to Australia this week to begin their work as seasonal workers on Australian farms employed in the agricultural sector. This arrangement was only possible because Samoa is free of Covid-19.
For the Solomon Islands to benefit from emerging air travel plans, regionally, and further afield, the country needs to be Covid free and the best possible way of becoming so is for everyone, as the government has planned, is to get the Covid-19 vaccine when it reaches the location where you live.
The re-emergence of tourists is the bigger picture but the priority as I see it is for each and everyone to be vaccinated for their own protection, the protection of their families and loved ones and for the country. In this regard, I tend to regard getting vaccinated very much a duty although I realise it is not mandatory to be vaccinated.
In neighbouring Papua New Guinea one reads daily of the spread of Covid=19 and the rising death toll and the impression one gets from reading reports of the situation in that country is the difficulty in getting the message across about the safety of the Covid=19 vaccine on offer and the reluctance of some to take the vaccine.
Sufficient information on the AstraZeneca vaccine has been given out in the Solomon Islands and if people are still unsure, then the MHMS is the right source of further information.
Already, H.E, the Governor-General, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Health, Cabinet Ministers, MPs, leading citizens, including Miss Solomon Islands, have demonstrated their faith and belief in the value to themselves of getting the protection of the vaccine, but have shown leadership to the nation in protecting others from catching the deadly virus.
I would please request all citizens to get themselves vaccinated for all the reasons I have explained, but add as a public duty if one really cares about fellow citizens and the welfare and economics of the nation.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
