Dr. Nikkiah Forbes, Director of the Infectious Disease Programme at the Ministry of Health said more than 98% of hospitalizations and deaths at the Princess Margaret Hospital are among unvaccinated people.
Speaking at the latest Ministry of Health’s press conference on Friday, Forbes said the infectious disease is attacking individuals not fully vaccinated from the virus.
“98.3% of the infected have had no vaccination. A smaller percentage had one shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine,” she said.
Forbes added that individuals with just one jab of the vaccine contracted the virus less than 14 days after inoculation.
“Getting vaccinated will protect against hospitalization and death,” she said.
These comments came after Prime Minister Hubert Minnis received criticism from some fractions of society when he suggested that the virus was over for the vaccinated.
Last week, Minnis stated that the vaccinated individuals are now out of the pandemic while the non-vaccinated people are still in the pandemic.
When asked to respond to this claim made by Minnis, Pearl McMillan, Chief Medical Officer at the Ministry of Health said, “He is partly right. More and more studies are coming through to show that those persons who have been vaccinated are less likely to have severe illness, hospitalization and death.”
State of play
Health officials said hospitalizations in this third wave have been much higher than in the second wave.
Officials said the country’s medical institutions experienced a peak in hospitalizations on July 20, which show a record of 92 cases.
Health Minister Renward Wells said, “These excessive numbers have placed our public health system to the test.”
The big picture
One hundred and ten new cases were confirmed on Thursday. This brings the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 13,957, with 1351 active cases.
A 50-year-old woman from New Providence died yesterday, due to the virus. This brings the total number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths to 280 people. Twenty-three deaths remain under investigation.
