THE EDITOR: The debate is ongoing about the risk of taking a covid19 vaccine and the resulting reluctance of many people to be inoculated.
We should commend the Government for reaching the stage of having four vaccines available to the public, sufficient to inoculate most of the population.
We are fortunate to have Dr Amery Browne, a medical doctor, as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He has expertise in epidemiology, was a former director of the National Aids Co-ordinating Committee and was a former diplomat.
He used his medical diplomacy to secure hundreds of thousands of donated vaccines from other countries. It's safe to say that TT got its money's worth from this selection as Foreign Affairs Minister.
Having secured sufficient vaccines, what is the quantifiable risk of taking them?
All four vaccines administered in TT have received World Health Organization (WHO) approval for emergency use. The probability of adverse severe potential side effects such as blood clots are minuscule when one examines the millions of vaccines already administered world-wide.
The Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences classifies rates of adverse events of medicines and vaccines as follows:
• Very common - greater than one in ten people.
• Common (frequent) - greater than one in 100 but less than one in ten.
• Uncommon (infrequent) - greater than one in 1,000 and less than one in 100.
• Rare - greater than one in 10,000 and less than one in 1,000.
• Very rare - less than one in 10,000.
The covid19 vaccines used in TT all have rates of adverse reactions of less than one in 100,000 or ten times lower than the lowest rate classified above. That equates to only ten cases in one million people or 0.0010 per cent.
The risk of dying in a car crash is higher at one person in 107 or 0.9346 per cent. Roughly speaking, you have an almost one per cent chance of dying in a car crash during your daily commute. The risk of having a severe adverse reaction from the covid19 vaccines (not necessarily dying) is more than 1,000 times less than just driving your car.
So I would encourage the public to get vaccinated. It is safer than driving and could save your life.
ADRIAN CLARKE
via e-mail
The post Taking vaccine safer than driving appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.
