“Let’s remember why healthcare workers were the first group to [be] prioritized in any national plan”
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — As the government considers the recommendation of health professionals for mandatory vaccination of their colleagues on the frontlines, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Assistant Director Dr Jarbas Barbosa said the regional body has no intention of making a recommendation on the matter.
But he noted health workers can contract and spread the virus “more easily”.
“You know that the national laws are very different in each country,” he said during PAHO’s weekly briefing yesterday.
“PAHO is not making recommendations about its voluntary or mandatory vaccine for any groups.
“But let’s remember why healthcare workers were the first group to [be] prioritized in any national plan, because PAHO and WHO (the World Health Organization) recommended that healthcare workers should be the first to be vaccinated for two reasons.
“The first one, healthcare workers were more exposed to the risk, so we needed to protect them to keep the health services running. But there is a second reason — healthcare workers [who] are not vaccinated not only can get the infection, but also transmit it more easily, the virus, to the patients that are going to healthcare facilities.
“So, it is very important that the healthcare workers can be protected.”
Barbosa noted vaccine hesitancy among healthcare workers throughout the Caribbean.
He said it is important for the Ministry of Health to continue discussions and open dialogue to address the concerns of healthcare workers about the vaccine to protect them, all patients and the healthcare system.
There have been discussions on mandatory vaccination among healthcare workers, but no decision has been made to date.
In a recent Ministry of Health briefing, Chief Medical Officer Dr Pearl McMillan said she was unaware of the percentage of healthcare workers vaccinated, and noted a recommendation for mandatory vaccination of that grouping was made because of the significance of the sector.
Last Tuesday, Minister of Health Renward Wells told the media last Tuesday that despite the threatening surge, mandatory vaccination is “not the current position of the government of The Bahamas”.
He said health professionals in the Ministry of Health made the recommendation to the government as a “way for us to be able to help arrest and deal with the spread of COVID”.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Health advised that cases, hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 increased significantly in the last month, pushing the healthcare sector to capacity.
It again urged adherence to public health measures and the importance of vaccination.
It also confirmed that contact tracing in July found clusters of cases linked to workplaces, construction sites, as well as social and other communal gatherings.
Another 78 cases were recorded on Tuesday.
Up to that date, there have been over 15,124 cases, of which 2,020 remained active.
Another 109 cases were hospitalized — five more than the day prior.
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