Dr Duane Sands
By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT
tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net
FORMER Health Minister Dr Duane Sands says The Bahamas should conduct its own independent investigation into new COVID-19 vaccines.
Sandra Lindsay, a nurse in New York, was the first person in the United States to receive a COVID vaccine yesterday. The US now joins the United Kingdom which started vaccinating its citizens last week.
Dr Sands, speaking to The Tribune from his office yesterday, said there should be a comprehensive look at the vaccines now coming into use.
“I think we need to look at this thing comprehensively,” he said. “First of all, we should all as human beings be astonished at the rapidity and embrace of technology which has resulted in this historic finish, in terms of producing a vaccine. However, that doesn’t mean that we should simply accept the comments being made by the persons making those comments.
“We should not surrender our sovereign responsibility because no one is going to pay attention to the concerns of Bahamian citizens more than Bahamians. This is not to diminish the responsibility of PAHO and WHO, however, The Bahamas has to go through the process of making sure, like every other country, that they have gone line by line and page by page of this data to see whether or not people that look like you and me are represented, to make sure that the adverse effects have been disclosed to the public and that process is more than someone just standing up and saying, ‘you should take this’.”
Dr Sands said every sovereign country needs to look at the options for vaccines to determine whether they are both safe and effective, appropriate for use, given the constraints and realities of the healthcare system and the healthcare demographics that exist in any particular country.
“We get our vaccines now through PAHO,” he explained. “And we have the assurances that we will get a certain quantity of vaccines through PAHO and WHO. Bear in mind that 80,000 vaccines will only be for about 20 percent of the population. WHO and PAHO finds itself currently being underfunded because the United States has withdrawn its financial support and the US is the single largest financial contributor to those agencies.
“We are now desperate for a solution and while based on the preliminary information that is out there, these vaccines that have been released, appear to be safe in the short term we have no long-term data. So, what happens at three months or six months or a year or even five years?”
Asked about which of the vaccines from the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca pharmaceutical companies would be more suited for The Bahamas, Dr Sands appeared to favour the drug from AstraZeneca.
“I have gone on record as suggesting that there are challenges with storage for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that require minus 70° C and the top-up requirement of dry ice every so many days will be logistically very challenging for us given the archipelagic nature of The Bahamas,” he said. “The AstraZeneca vaccine can be stored at freezing temperatures, but not at minus 70° C like the others. AstraZeneca vaccine looks very promising. The efficacy was around 70 percent, but it seems to be a reasonable candidate.”
The former health minister seemed concerned about the costs of the vaccine and the funding to support it.
“Let’s say that you get 100,000 people to agree to a vaccine and each of those vaccines is $20 (in cost), but then you have the administrative costs with that,” he said. “So that’s about $2 million then the administrative costs and the storage etcetera. Then it goes to $3-$4 million. You are already starting with a health budget which is in a deficit position, where is the money going to come from? This is a very serious issue.
“I am pro-vaccination, but these are the questions we have to ask and these are answers that we have to get answers to because it (funding) isn’t just going to fall out of the sky. It has to be planned and the public should be engaged in this discussion, because there has been so much damage to the confidence of vaccines because of political interference that people are wondering ‘Is this thing really all that it’s cracked up to be?”
Dr Sands said because of the public’s mistrust of the new vaccine, it is imperative that people are educated properly on it.
“Then you have the historic trends about vaccines in black and brown people who bear a disproportionate burden of deaths and illness from COVID,” he continued. “You add to that a massive social media misinformation campaign that says this is about the sterilisation of the brown and black masses. You literally have to walk people through the process, be transparent, be open and demonstrate by example that this is safe, because the anti-vaccination movement for vaccines in general is strong.
“The anti-vaccination movement for COVID is massive. We have to actively work on educating the public. Not strong arming them or threatening them, or forcing them, but providing information in a way that people can understand it.”
Pfizer received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use of its vaccine due to the rampant outbreak of COVID in the US.
“Understanding these emergency use authorisations are exactly that – emergency use authorisations,” Dr Sands explained. “What it is saying is that based on the information that we have and based on the severity of the threat to the community this vaccine will be allowed to be used for mass vaccination, however, that doesn’t mean that this is the formal approval.”
Dr Sands is also in support of amending the country’s Vaccine Act, which is 160 years old. He said it is toothless and he tried to have it addressed during his tenure as minister of health.
Comments
Bahamabird 4 years ago
Why is this two time losing candidate, judicially condemned fired Minister still relevant? He remains consistent though - even as a Minister he was filled with 'doom and gloom'. Let's hear from people who can fix problems. Sands helped to create them.
tribanon 4 years ago
Trust me, we've got much bigger things than Dr. Sands to worry about.
tetelestai 4 years ago
I beg to differ. Sands is on the Mt. Rushmore of problems - in fact, during this pandemic and the fact that Bahamians actually take this buffoon seriously, other than Minnis, he is public enemy number 2.
tribanon 4 years ago
Bill Gates and his evil friends involved in unregulated big pharma COVID-19 R&D being done in Communist controlled China are anxious for people like us to get a dose of the special cocktail of messenger Ribonucleic Acid strands (mRNA) they have created to commandeer and manipulate the protein production processes of our body's DNA. They long ago figured out that population control can easily be achieved if 'undesirable' and/or 'unnecessary' people around the world could be frightened by a virus like COVID-19 into allowing an evil partnership of the super wealthy class and high tech bio-engineering firms to take 'instructional control' over the most fundamental genetic material (our DNA) that determines our very existence and all of our bodily functions. The age of Dr. Frankenstein is upon us!
KapunkleUp 4 years ago
You mean the Men in Black didn't already secretly slip a special mRNA cocktail into your morning coffee?! I swear I saw a black van parked outside your place last night.
tribanon 4 years ago
Are you even aware that many of these so called 'vaccines' are not even vaccines by medical definition and have no track record whatsover for their longer term implications on the normal biological functions of humans, especially certain ethnicities? I suspect you're not aware of the well documented experimental atrocities committed in certain countries of Africa by sinister and evil medical scientists who make Josef Mengele seem like an angel. Oh well, as they say, ignorance is bliss.
GodSpeed 4 years ago
just let the idiots take it 😂 they completely trust government like good 🐑🐏🐑 ... they don't understand or know that people like Bill Gates who push these vaccines wants them dead. gotta get that population down.
Bobsyeruncle 4 years ago
Government has nothing to do with it. The companies developing the vaccines are either private or publicly listed companies. The FDA etc. act independent to the government, even though President Trump tries to influence them.
proudloudandfnm 4 years ago
Please stop with the stupid conspiracy theories....
Dumbest damn thing ever. Bout Bill Gates. Get a damned life and get off Facebook..
GodSpeed 4 years ago
I hope you're front of the line to take the vaccine, we need to get rid of the stupid people. If you knew anything about Bill Gates' history and pedigree then you'd probably get it a bit.
Bobsyeruncle 4 years ago
Please post a link to a source regarding the Bill Gates theories. Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, CNN, MSNBC, OAN, FoxNews, Breibart, Infowars, HuffPost etc. don't count as being credible sources in my book. Your experience may differ !
GodSpeed 4 years ago
NEVER taking the Bill Gates BIO-WEAPON
DDK 4 years ago
Dr. Sands is more than right on this one. It's all about the money for Big Pharma and their investors..
tetelestai 4 years ago
No he isnt. He is a buffoon.
GodSpeed 4 years ago
Not taking the experimental bioweapon that has HIV in it and gives people Bell's Palsy among other things. Let the MSNBC watchers take it.
Bobsyeruncle 4 years ago
Are you serious, or just trying to get a rise out of others here?
GodSpeed 4 years ago
I'm only slightly exaggerating for effect. But read for yourself:
https://nypost.com/2020/10/20/some-covi…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/arti…
https://www.firstpost.com/health/austra…
I'm sure this is just the beginning of the freakshow, as it hasn't been properly tested, this is human experimentation and nobody has a clue on the long term effects of these vaccines.
tribanon 4 years ago
You're absolutely right about this being only the beginning.
Bobsyeruncle 4 years ago
There's absolutely nothing in those reports worth considering. Bell's Palsy is considered a Non-serious adverse event as it is a temporary condition, (that rectifies itself), and occurs in normal day to day life in a small percentage of the general population.
The number of occurrences in the clinical trials is in line with the percentage of occurrences in the general population. Both the Moderna & Pfizer clinical trials had 4 subjects each who experienced Bell's during the clinical trials. 1 of the 4 who experienced it in the Moderna trial received the placebo and not the vaccine. There is NO EVIDENCE whatsoever that it is related to the vaccine. The articles from NY Post & Australia are more interesting, and possibly related but in true NY Post style, they aren't exactly being forthwith with their reporting. All I can say is, that these are all vaccines that are under development and haven't even gone into Phase I clinical trials yet (except for the Australian one, which has now permanently stopped development), This is the reason you conduct clinical trials and why they are so important. In this case, they did their job. Most people think it is a formality to get any drug through clinical trials and on the market. In reality it is a very long and expensive process ($1 Billion), with a really low success rate (<10%).
tribanon 4 years ago
@Bobsye: The many untruths to your misinformation campaign are now so illogical that they have you turning your own self in circles like a dog foolishly chasing its own tail. lol
Bobsyeruncle 4 years ago
Really? I've spent the last 40 years working in this field. What about you?
GodSpeed 4 years ago
I have no idea why you would try so hard to fight for these people who only care about making money, they don't give a damn about you. If you trust them with your precious body that your parents gave you that much then go ahead and get sticked. Just know that NOBODY knows the long term effects of these vaccines.
Bobsyeruncle 4 years ago
Like I just replied to your conspiracy theory buddy Tribanon, I've spent the majority of my working life in this field in one capacity or another. I therefore feel I know a thing or two about what actually goes on, unlike some others.
TalRussell 4 years ago
Why are our borders remaining open when there is no access by the PopoulacesOrdinary at large POAL to COVID-19 vaccines? Every country that reopened its borders is paying a deadly price. Canada wisely has kept its borders closed since March to US visitors. Shakehead a quick once for upyeahvote, a slow twice for not?
bobneville 4 years ago
IDIOTS>
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