A draft policy to regulate frequent COVID-19 testing for unvaccinated persons was mentioned by Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport (ECYS) Rodolphe Samuel (see related story) in connection with COVID-19 infections at local schools. There have been 50 such cases since this academic year started barely two weeks ago, of which 35 involved students.
That may seem a lot but is well under 1 per cent of about 7,000 enrolled in primary and secondary education. Nevertheless, concerns among parents, as well as staff and their families, are completely understandable and should drive home the importance of adhering to related safety protocols.
Rather than mandate vaccination for teachers like in – for example – New York, requiring they test regularly and preferably at no cost to them might be less controversial, although some will no doubt oppose it anyway. At a certain point one must choose between individual freedoms and the general wellbeing of the community including its children.
Perhaps the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approving the Pfizer vaccine will help convince more to get injected. Another pop-up vaccination this Saturday to stimulate such is announced in today’s paper by Minister of Public Health, Labor and Social Development VSA Omar Ottley.
He also stated that of 12 persons who died on the island from COVID-19 in the past 2½ weeks, nine were unvaccinated and only one was fully vaccinated, so people can do the math. News on this issue is often misinterpreted.
Take a report out of Israel that half its new cases were fully vaccinated. The country has a 78 per cent vaccination rate of the population ages 12 and older.
This in effect means that while 7.8 of every 10 teenagers and adults are protected, they account for five out of 10 infections. It still is an unusually high percentage but can thus be put in better perspective.
To be sure, the same story said unvaccinated persons were much more likely to end up hospitalised in Israel too. Excluding any possibility of getting infected at all remains practically impossible, so risk reduction is the name of the game.
