Public making use of weekly vaccination drive at Coreas

By KATHERINE RENTON

VACCINATION CLINICS are held every Friday morning at the Bay street offices of Coreas Hazells Inc. And last Friday some persons who lined up to take either the Pfizer-BioNTech, Oxford AstraZeneca or Sputnik V vaccine disclosed their reason for finally taking the jab.

The clinics at Coreas have been ongoing for several months, and hundreds, including many Coreas employees, have been vaccinated through the initiative. Last week’s clinic was estimated to be either the 17th or 18th to be held.

It is intended to make the experience comfortable, with snacks being provided, and an area for television viewing to wait out the 15 minutes rest after the shot is administered.

Many who were taking their vaccine declined to be interviewed or photographed, A uniformed male, who did not want his identify disclosed, said that he was taking the COVID-19 vaccine because “they make it mandatory by my workplace”.

The 24 year old concluded, “you want continue work so haffu vaccinated”.

The young man who said he has been working in that job for fewer than six months explained, “Me nah been really surprised becah me done know that been going happen.”

He noted that he wasn’t really vaccine hesitant, but his thoughts were that persons still contract the COVID-19 virus even after having taken the vaccine and this is why he hadn’t taken the jab before, despite having had the opportunity to do so.

It is widely accepted by the health authorities, including the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention( CDC) in the USA that ‘breakthrough infections’ are possible. However, the CDC also notes that “COVID-19 vaccines are effective at preventing infection, serious illness, and death. Most people who get COVID-19 are unvaccinated.”

To this point, the young man responded that even with outbreaks such as the Chikungunya virus which made everyone else sick, he “never once” came down with an illness.

“Don’t really sick so,” he commented.

He said he researched and was told that Astra-Zeneca was the “better one”, which is why he took this vaccine.

His mother and sister who share the same home, remain unvaccinated.

A 36-year-old who also wanted to remain unnamed, also decided to take his shot because his employer of 15 years, a resort in the Grenadines, said they would have to take it.

While admitting that he doesn’t like needles, he said that he hadn’t taken the vaccine before because “Me just waiting for see the procedure

and how it affecting people.”

“…Just hear wey people say what it do to people…” he commented.

He chose to take the Pfizer-BioNTech based on his questions to those around him.

He reasoned that most people were taking this vaccine, and that he would be able to travel with it.

On the other hand, 18-year-old Ariele Hazelwood revealed, “I always wanted to take it, so the opportunity presented itself this week.”

“I just wanted to take it for my health and for my family,” the teen who wants to study medicine stated.

“…I’m not going to listen to what other people are saying,” she said.

“I just wanted to take it for my health and for my family…” Hazelwood revealed, adding “…even though there might be challenges after taking it, I just wanted to be protected from the Covid, in any case, since we’re going back to school.”

She researched and decided to chose the Pfizer- BioNTech.

Chief Executive Officer of Coreas Hazells Inc, Joel Providence, told SEARCHLIGHT that they feel obligated to hold the clinics.

He also explained, “If we want to look out for the safety of our staff and preserve our business, then we have to make a contribution in whatever way we can to the national effort. It’s very difficult, we cannot isolate ourselves from what’s happening nationally but what we can do is try however to get our numbers, in terms of vaccination, because we believe that vaccination is the best tool to fight, to mitigate against the risk of the virus.”

The CEO revealed that more than 170 members of the Coreas staff have chosen to be vaccinated.

Of the general population, only 12.2% are fully vaccinated against the virus, amidst a deadly spike that is ongoing. However, the number of first doses administered have shown an increase from the end of August. On August 30, a total of 16,417 first doses had been administered to members of the population, but this had increased to 20, 661 as at October 1.