Basseterre, St. Kitts, July 16, 2021 (SKNIS): Medical Chief of Staff at the Joseph Nathaniel France (JNF) General Hospital, Dr. Cameron Wilkinson, said that unvaccinated persons in society are not discriminated against, instead, the fight continues in order to protect those who are not able to be vaccinated.
“There is no discrimination against the unvaccinated and we need to stop talking about unvaccinated as if it is a race or gender that cannot change,” said Dr. Wilkinson, while responding to a question on the July 14 edition of the NEOC COVID-19 Press Briefing. “Our fight all along has been for the unvaccinated. We have been trying to get as many persons who can be vaccinated, vaccinated so that we can protect those who cannot be vaccinated and those who cannot be vaccinated include our young folks below the age of 18, and so there is no discrimination at all,” Dr. Wilkinson added.
He encouraged persons above the age of 18 who can be vaccinated to get vaccinated so that they can protect those persons who cannot be vaccinated.
Dr. Wilkinson said that the fight has also been for every pregnant woman and the unborn child and every elderly person over the age of 80.
“Our fight has also been for the pregnant mother and the unborn child who cannot be vaccinated and so there is no discrimination against those people at all by us encouraging you out there who can be vaccinated to go forward and get vaccinated so that you can protect those persons,” he said. “Our fight has also been for the elderly and frail who cannot be vaccinated.”
At the end of business day on July 15, 2021, a total of 42,432 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine were administered since the rollout of the country’s vaccination programme in February 2021. This represents 70.3 percent of the target population who have had at least the first dose, while 19, 200 received their second dose amounting to 58.1 percent.
Data are showing that unvaccinated persons are more likely to contract the COVID-19 virus, be hospitalized and possibly die.
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