• WEDNESDAY MORNING UPDATE: Healthcare workers began receiving their vaccines on Wednesday morning at Princess Margaret Hospital.

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net 

AMID growing concerns over the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in some European countries, Health Minister Renward Wells has stressed that if any Bahamian were to experience negative post vaccination side effects, the government will respond “immediately”.

The country is set to officially begin its vaccine rollout today, a week after it received 20,000 doses of the British-made vaccines from the Indian government.

This comes at a time when the shots are being temporarily suspended in several European countries – including Germany, France, Italy and Spain – out of fears people who received it have had blood clots.

Officials from the European Medicines Agency have since defended the shot as safe, insisting that no direct link between blood clot symptoms and the vaccine has been established.

World Health Organisation experts have also assured that the vaccine is safe and are still recommending use of the jabs. They were expected to meet yesterday to review the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

Still, countries that have suspended the AstraZeneca vaccine have deemed the move as a precautionary measure as officials continue their investigations.

Yesterday, Mr Wells said it’s a situation that Bahamian health officials are continuing to monitor, but suggested they feel confident the shots are safe.

Similar comments were expressed by director of the National HIV/AIDS and Infectious Disease Programme, Dr Nikkiah Forbes when she spoke to The Tribune on Monday.

“We are watching it, but I say it this way, there’s been nearly 20 million persons vaccinated with AstraZeneca. I want the Bahamian people to understand this – 20 million persons,” Mr Wells told reporters yesterday.

“Out of the 20 million, 37 persons ended up with a little clotting response. The reality is the research…we’re not even sure that the clotting response is as a result of the vaccines. Thirty seven out of 20 million and so the WHO and others are doing their research and they will give a more full and comprehensive report on Thursday, but the WHO has encouraged nations to keep vaccinating people with the AstraZeneca. We’re looking at the data, but keep vaccinating.”

Asked how the government will respond if any vaccinated Bahamians were to experience negative side effects, Mr Wells assured the public that officials would “be on the ball with them immediately”.

“I think this whole process has shown just how responsive countries are globally to the monitoring of the taking of this vaccine,” he said.

“The Bahamian people could have confidence. Look at what has happened – we were able globally to pick out 37 individuals out of 20 million having received the vaccine so it says that the global monitoring and the national monitoring here in The Bahamas – we put it in place with an electronic immunisation record keeping now that’s going to be used not just for COVID but for all vaccines. We developed that digital platform in country and we’re apart of that global monitoring so it should lend some confidence and faith to the Bahamian people that as we are rolling out this vaccine, that if there were adverse effects on the part of any Bahamians who would’ve taken it, we would be on the ball with them immediately and quickly.”

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said similarly that the vaccine is safe after he was administered the shot on Sunday.

Speaking at a pastoral installation at a local church, Dr Minnis reminded those gathered that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has already been given to millions of people.

Yesterday, the health minister also addressed the slight uptick of cases recently seen on Grand Bahama. The island’s total COVID-19 tally rose to 1,323 after seven new cases were recorded on Sunday. Thirteen new cases were recorded on Saturday and 11 were recorded last Friday. There were no new cases recorded in Grand Bahama on Monday, according to the latest information from the Ministry of Health. 

Mr Wells told reporters outside Cabinet: “The data is being correlated and pulled together so we can get a better idea what’s going on in Grand Bahama and once we get a sense of what’s going on in Grand Bahama, we’ll be able to report to the media exactly what’s taking place…So, we’re observing what’s taking place in Grand Bahama and we’ll be making decisions as to how we progress forward.”