Persons infected with Covid-19 who are asymptomatic may not be getting away scot-free; studies show. Dr Malcolm Grant, District Medical Officer for the Southern Grenadines made this input during a discussion on ‘Round Table Talk’, aired Wednesday, February 24 on Facebook and television.

Grant, infectious disease specialist Dr Jerrol Thompson, and historian Dr Garrey Michael Dennie, fielded multiple frequently asked questions about the Covid-19 vaccines during this comprehensive analysis.

Many have pondered why they should take the Covid-19 vaccines, noting there is still a chance of them getting Covid-19.
Grant joined Thompson on sharing that they now have real world data to reference.

“I think up to yesterday something like 200 million people across the world have been vaccinated and it is shown that worse case scenarios are basically not heard of any longer once you’re vaccinated,” the doctor submitted.

There are a number of variants of the virus circulating, and reports were that the Oxford-AstraZeneca was not so effective against the South African variant. AstraZeneca is currently the vaccine being administered in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), which has yet to record any variants.

With the South African variant, Grant says, the vaccine “reduces the incidence of mild infection by only 10 per cent but it reduces the incidence of severe infection, hospitalization and death by still 100 per cent.”
“We suspect you’re going to have similar data coming out of when we look at the Brazilian variant,” the physician indicated, adding “it is still better than not giving anything, a lot better.”

“So I strongly encourage individuals to go forward, get themselves vaccinated, there’s a very, very, very good chance
In addressing the efficacy rate of the vaccines, he imagined that some persons may argue that the vaccine is only 70 to 80 per cent effective. The medical professional said that the first vaccine developed to treat Polio was only 70 to 80 per cent effective and “it eliminated Polio for the most part for the world and people who took it did not get Polio.”

“We have a very good product on hand, we should take advantage of that fact,” he reiterated.

Some persons have been experiencing Flu like symptoms following the taking of the vaccine, “let’s put it this way, getting the vaccine, the side effects that you would get from it are very minimal compared to what you can get from contracting the Covid”, the doctor said.

“…There are studies that show that even in people who have asymptomatic Covid, while they may have no symptoms, when their hearts are checked, their lungs are checked they may still see effects, clinically you may still see effects of the Covid on these organ systems,” he also stated.

“…It’s not that you’re asymptomatic and you’ve gotten away scot-free, quite often you still pay a price by even getting asymptomatic infections,” Grant explained.

“..There’s no doubt in my mind and I think in most clinicians who have reviewed the data, in their minds respectively, that the Oxford AstraZeneca Covid vaccine that we have available and at our disposal in St Vincent is a very good product which would reduce the chances of infection across the board and definitely prevent severe infections, hospitalizations and death,” he concluded.