Belize Should Continue with AstraZeneca Vaccine

Belizeans are encouraged to get vaccinated against COVID-19, despite growing concerns elsewhere regarding the side effects of the Oxford-AstraZeneca shots.  At least twelve countries within the European Union have halted use of the serum, following claims that it has led to blood clots.  Severe reactions to the vaccine have been minimal when compared to almost seventeen million jabs that have been successfully administered.  Since the vaccine rollout began in Belize a few weeks ago, nine thousand five hundred and eighty-five persons have been inoculated.  Doctor Fernando Cuellar, an internist at the Belize Medical Associates, is going on record urging all citizens to take advantage of the opportunity to get vaccinated.

Fernando Cuellar

Dr. Fernando Cuellar, Internist, Belize Medical Associates

“The move to put a pause on the distribution and the vaccination of this particular vaccine is mainly in the European Union, in the European countries.  I think we have a little bit over a dozen countries in that part of the world that have put a pause on it.  I say a pause because they have not really cancelled the whole campaign to vaccine, but they are putting a pause on it to look at the safety of the vaccine.  There have been reports of certain cases of blood clots either in the lung which is called pulmonary embolism or blood clots in your legs which is called deep venous thrombosis.  Those are the two areas of the body that’s being seen to have these blood clots being formed that could be connected to the vaccine, this AstraZeneca.  But if we do the numbers, and it is important, if dehn done vaccinate seventeen million people and only thirty plus have had these serious, adverse reactions, I’m not sure if there’s only one death so far or two deaths, but it’s the numbers that play the thing okay, seventeen million versus the thirty plus that have had this serious reaction.  So I have indeed looked at it, we are getting bombarded with information, we get statements from WHO, we get statements from the actual manufacturers and yes, you could become cynical, you could noh di trust dehn ya people because you know that da lotta thing involved eena dehn ya thing.  Yoh di worry if money di play wahn role and why dehn noh wahn seh that something wrong with dehn vaccine but by and large these people have gone through the necessary checks.  The trials, the so-called experiments that they did during the trials and how they tested the vaccine, those were done properly.  So they did get all the necessary permission from all over the world so that these vaccinations were considered, or these vaccines are considered safe.  We have no choice, we are getting AstraZeneca.”