Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados TODAY Inc.
by Hyacinth Greenidge
I have always been a fan of Barbados TODAY and the thought-provoking articles this paper produces. This has been the case whether I agree with the topic or not.
I find the contributions carried in your paper to be fair and firm. Some editorials have been biting but one you published earlier this week was disappointing to say the least.
Your editorial on Tuesday headlined: Vaccines Only Way Out Of Being Stuck Inside, adds to the growing campaign of half-truths and false information.
The scientists, the doctors and the manufactures of all these COVID-19 vaccines have repeatedly said that the vaccinated person can still get the virus and spread the virus.
The only claim to fame the vaccines have, so far, are that they reduce chances of hospitalisation and death but to this day that is a claim that still has not been proven.
What is a fact, though, is that all these variants Delta, Gamma, Alpha and Beta have all come about after these vaccines came on the market. What is a fact is that we are yet to see if they have any potency against a swiftly mutating, deadly virus.
Reports come in daily where vaccinated people are continuously infected with COVID-19. All around the world there are cases of vaccinated people dying either from the virus itself or complications from the said vaccines. Hence why the production of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine has been halted.
We have had cases where cruises that have recorded 100 per cent vaccinated staff and passengers have had COVID-19 outbreaks.
Two weeks ago, Bloomberg reported that six fully vaccinated people died in Seychelles, a country in East Africa. Five of the six had taken Covishield, a version of the AstraZeneca.
In Boston, 80 fully vaccinated people died.
Only this week 600 medical workers in Thailand were infected with the coronavirus even though there were vaccinated. Now experts are recommending they take a third dose of the Sinovac vaccine they had received.
Whether world leaders or governments want to hear it, the reality is that these vaccines are trial vaccines. They have not been fully tested and they have not been proven.
It is a shame that Barbados TODAY allowed itself to be used as a conduit spewing that nonsense.
In late June when The Minister of Health Jeffrey Bostic told the country about the cluster at a business where at time 12 people had tested positive and 40 were in quarantine he was swift to report that none of the people who tested positive were vaccinated. He has made no such statement since. Neither he nor the Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kenneth George has said how many of the cases since then were vaccinated people. If you are going to report on the unvaccinated, do likewise when the vaccinated are infected. There always seems to be this agenda to expose or point fingers at the unvaccinated.
This practice of reporting information to the public only when it suits the narrative must stop.
Those three variants didn’t magically appear in Barbados. They came here by some who came through one of our ports of entry. Those variants came from someone who met with our travel requirements.
Our requirements include a vaccination certificate for the vaccinated. The vaccinated have less hassle than the unvaccinated. The unvaccinated have to quarantine for days so it is highly unlikely it came from any of them.
But sadly, if the carriers are vaccinated people we will never be told. If the majority of people in this most recent cluster, that involves businesses and a church, are vaccinated we will never know.
The pharmaceutical companies and world leaders are so eager to get back to business as usual they continue to feed the populace with only half of the information.
They act like our future and livelihood depend on the vaccines. They have pushed that message over and over. As they push that message, the other message of sanitising, social distancing and mask-wearing has been shifted to the background.
By so doing they have the vaccinated believing that they have some special covering that the unvaccinated do not. The vaccinated somehow believe that the deadly disease is no longer a threat to them.
That is why your headline and editorial are both reckless.
The key to getting back outside is following the proven medical protocols to the bitter end.
Infectious Disease Specialist Dr Corey Forde has repeatedly said the best way to fight the virus is through the three main protocols. That is the message that should be spread and repeated even though these trial vaccines are on the market.
The key to getting back outside is for world leaders and governments to give their natives all the information and not just some.
The key to getting back outside is for the Fourth Estate to have the interest of the public at heart by presenting unvarnished facts and not to be caught up in the rat race.
The key to getting back outside is accepting that outside will never be the same as long as there is no cure for COVID-19.
The key to getting back outside is embracing change and to quit going back to the “norm” when some freedom is given.
There are many “keys” to getting back outside. But, one thing I am certain of, is that those trial vaccines are not the key.
This column was offered as a Letter to the Editor.
