"I received my COVID-19 jab with no side effects," PM Roosevelt Skerrit

Dominica: Prime Minister of Dominica, Dr Roosevelt Skerrit, while addressing his special show One on One (Annou Pale), said that he had no health issues as he took Oxford’s Astra-Zeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

Vaccination Programme of the Commonwealth of Dominica, which had started from Feb 12 when President got the vaccine, was extolled by the Minister of Health, Dr Irving McIntyre, “So far Dominica has done very well as people have accepted the vaccine to curb the menace of coronavirus.”

“Total 5924 Dominicans have received the vaccine by the past Friday,” said Irving McIntyre. There is a ratio of over 1000 everyday vaccinations under the programme in all seven health districts. From Monday, the programme will reach out to the village level to provide vaccines to more people. Irving McIntyre said that Dominica has the capacity to vaccinate people who are out of the vulnerable bar, “We are vaccinating people who are not included in the vulnerable bar as we have the capacity to cater more people.” Process of taking the vaccine

If someone would like to take the vaccine, the person can log in to the website and fill out the form. They can then print out their form and come to the health centers; It would save them a lot of time. However, some people will have to come to the health centers are fill out the form manually.

After filling the form, health officials will make people aware about the vaccination process, side effects, why the vaccine is important, and all. After giving the vaccine to someone, the officials would observe them for around 15 minutes to make sure everything went well.

Side effects Data in Dominica

Like every other vaccine in the world, people do get little side effects. We’ve had some minor in Dominica, including body pain, inflammation on the shoulder, chills, or low fever. As more than 250 million people have taken the Astra-Zeneca vaccine globally, there are no significant side effects so far.

Benefits of Taking the Vaccine

Taking the vaccine is preventing 100% cases of ICU cases, cutting down the hospital admissions by 90%, and most prominently, it prevents death. We can get herd immunity, and soon we can get back to normalcy. Apart from its health aspect, Dominica also cares about its social and economic benefit.

Health Minister said that the Indian Institute manufacturing the vaccine is the world’s largest vaccine producer. It makes over 1.5 billion vaccines per year and India provides 50% of the global vaccine.

While clarifying the stand over nursing staff not wearing the gloves, Minister of Health, Irving McIntyre said, “If you look at the WHO guidelines, it is not mandatory to wear gloves while giving the vaccine. However, if the person has a bleeding disorder and there is a transfer of body fluid, then you consider wearing gloves.”

As the vaccination would expire in the month of June, Minister said that the vaccination programme would conclude before May month. Further, the minister stated that the programme would extend as we are expected to receive vaccines from China and others, "The vaccination programme would continue to expand until Dominica attains herd immunity.