The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

The potentially crippling and lethal Corona Virus is fluid, dynamic, deadly and dangerously potent – and it rages on in many quarters of the universe. We hear about vaccines, and new variants of the disease regularly, and it appears that no one really knows how to control the contagious and rapidly mutating COVID-19.

Politicians are doing their best to paint a promising picture for the people with their respective get-vaccinated campaigns. It’s a noble initiative, but a vaccinated person can still catch COVID – and possibly die of related complications. The only difference is that the science says that a vaccinated person has a significantly less chance of hospitalization, and death if they catch COVID-19.

It’s a catch-22 situation. We have to live and die with the contagion in a rebellious culture – where people ignore the standard protocols of social distancing, mask wearing, hand washing and sanitizing and so on; and they are intensely sceptical about the various vaccines.

I bit the bullet one day in May, and proceeded to get my first jab. I was fortunate enough to be served without an appointment. There was only an elderly couple before me, who were there for their second shot.

I am relieved that I had made the decision to get vaccinated in an atmosphere dominated by the good, bad and ugly reports of COVID-19 ‘s impact in our world, and the dreaded vaccines. I advise my fellow Bahamian brothers and sisters who have not taken the first step yet to get vaccinated against COVID-19 – to bite the bullet and get on with it.

I feel that the fall of 2021 will be a time of reckoning for the unvaccinated in a lot of places, as they will have a difficult time securing employment, travelling, and socialising as they wish in the town; and they will be highly vulnerable to the unmerciful and deadly side of the ever-mutating COVID. No union leader, politician, lawyer, conspiracy theorist or fear-monger will be able to change that, or save anyone – but themselves.

DENNIS DAMES

Nassau,

June 4, 2021.