The vaccine-only approach is not working

Dear Editor,

There is an article on the front page in one of the daily newspapers this week with a headline that reads, “Former minister says change our policy or accept frequent deaths”.

In the article, he states, “I see a dramatic disconnect between what is happening in the clinical arena and what the public’s perception seems to be.”

I agree and believe that the change of policy we need, which will result in more lives being saved and more people kept from being admitted to hospital, is for us as a country to adopt a three-pronged approach.

Along with the push to have people take the COVID-19 vaccine, we should also work on preventive medicines, then therapeutic medicines, if a person has gotten COVID-19, much like other countries are doing successfully.

I believe there is irrefutable scientific evidence for anybody who wants to look at the empirical data, that the vaccine-only approach will not get us out of this pandemic.

I refer to just two of many examples: Israel has one of the highest, if not the highest percentage of vaccinated people, yet their hospitals are full and many are dying, compared to Uttar Pradesh, India, which has declared that they are COVID-19-free by the government because they have also promoted preventive and therapeutic medicines to their population.

I am a Bahamian who had COVID-19, and have fully recovered by working closely with doctors and by implementing this approach.

I want to see more of my Bahamian brothers and sisters being survivors of COVID-19, and encourage our government to adopt this approach, so that we can do just that.

— Andy Knowles
Bahamas Olympic swimmer and coach