Officials working on vaccine survey results

| 24/08/2021 | 48 Comments

(CNS): The Health Services Authority has now surveyed around 24,000 people locally who have had both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine about possiblel side effects and adverse reactions and hope to make the results available to the public shortly. Given the scale of the project and the pressure on HSA resources, the staff are still compiling the data, officials told CNS.

But what they are able to say from the information they are seeing so far is that the most commonly reported side effects in the Cayman Islands have been soreness at the injection site, muscle ache and fever. There have been no official reports so far from any private or public hospitals or physicians of any serious reactions.

However, there is a steady stream of anecdotal unsubstantiated claims on social media about people suffering a wide variety of illnesses and serious side effects related to the vaccine, but people are also claiming that they are being prevented from reporting them as such. A number of regular local social media posters and internet talking-heads continue to play on people’s fears and religious misunderstandings, fuelling vaccine hesitancy.

But government has not been helping to counter the false narratives being created about the vaccine by those peddling in conspiracy theories.

CNS has been pressing for more than three weeks for the factual data from the vaccine surveys or any cases at all of people being sick as a result of the shots. While the HSA today confirmed the details about common side effects, they have not yet responded to the question regarding what, if any, confirmed reports there have been of anyone suffering any serious illness after being vaccinated.

Yesterday, the United States Food and Drug Administration gave the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine full approval for everyone 16 years old and over. Billions of doses of this vaccine have been given to people around the world and the level of officially reported adverse reactions appears to be exceptionally small.

While there have been some break-through cases of the Delta variant in vaccinated individuals, the vast majority of people who are hospitalized or dying as a result of the virus are unvaccinated.

Here in Cayman, well over 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been given to over 51,000 people, and despite the unsubstantiated claims, the HSA has not reported any cases of serious adverse effects. Following the news of the FDA approval yesterday, Health Minister Sabrina Turner said she hoped it would address any concerns that people may still have about the shots.

“This approval demonstrates what we have stated all along, which is that vaccines developed to fight the COVID-19 disease meet the highest standards of the international health sector,” Turner said in a short statement. “We hope that the FDA approval will allay any remaining fears concerning the safety of the vaccine for Cayman Islands residents yet to be vaccinated. We urge everyone to do their due diligence and then to take the shot. It is our best protection against the disease as individuals and as a community.”

There is a plethora of factual scientific information easily available on line about this vaccine, including the results of clinic trials, peer reviewed research and numerous studies. The ingredients of the vaccine, the science behind how it works and much more has been made publicly available. There has also been a great deal of detail published on the actual cases where people have suffered serious side effects after taking the shots.


Share your vote!


How do you feel after reading this?
  • Fascinated
  • Happy
  • Sad
  • Angry
  • Bored
  • Afraid
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Tags: , , , ,

Category: Health, Medical Health

Comments (48)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. Anonymous says:

    “There have been no official reports so far from any private or public hospitals or physicians of any serious reactions.”

    I know more people sick from the vaccine than covid.(Just in my work place)
    Everything is being brushed under the rug in Cayman.
    The deaths resulting from the vaccines are also being hidden.

    I am not an anti vaxer, just not a fool to believe everything Cig says is true. They have been lying for 50 plus years, nothing new here.

    • Anonymous says:

      How can BigPharma improve the vaccines, if side effects are being brushed under the rug?

      The whole purpose of reporting side effects is to improve the vaccines.

      • Anonymous says:

        I tried reporting my symptoms and was told “sounds serious you should consult your private doctor.” No reporting was taken about my complaints. I do not think any one is tracking any effects of the vaccine.

    • Anonymous says:

      Well, given we don’t have community transmission, it’s hardly surprising that you know more people affected by the vaccine than COVID, is it? However we are not talking about today – we are talking about after the borders open, when if the example of other countries follows the numbers of people you know with COVID will sky rocket. And if they aren’t vaccinated the numbers of people you know that will be seriously ill versus grumbling about a sore arm or suing that as an excuse for a couple of days is going to be very, very different. But I guess I am arguing with someone who seems to think that the government is secretly burying bodies and silencing relatives to cover up the real situation!

      • Anonymous says:

        Three people in one family (two fully vaxxed) went to HSA recently with serious flu symptoms. One even had problems breathing. They requested to be tested with PCR and were refused. So tell me how we know there is no community cases if they refuse to test people with symptoms?

    • Anonymous says:

      Are you sure you are not an anti-vaxxer? Please go get vaccinated and stop making up $hit about people at your work place and people dying from the vaccine..Who are these people? Why arent’t they coming forward and speaking out? Why aren’t they going to the hospital to report their issues?

      I am so sick and tired of the misinformation passed around and for what? What does it help? If you think many people are dying from the vaccine, wait until the Delta arrives..

    • Anonymous says:

      @ 9:11am What a complete idiot? Seriously please go back and read what you just said..I’m dumbfounded by the ignorance and stupidity..

    • Island Dreams says:

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-58330796

      And many more being hidden from the public.

  2. Anonymous says:

    The HSA isn’t developing this app. It’s developed by a US company called Cerner.

    Enjoy.

  3. Truth says:

    The FDA gave approval of the Corminaty Vaccine NOT the Phizer BioNtech Covid 19 vaccine. The latter is still only approved under the EUA.

    XXX

    CNS: That site is pure garbage. And Robert F. Kennedy, Jr is a conspiracy theorist in the same league as Alex Jones. Pfizer’s Comirnaty vaccine is exactly the same as the previous Pfizer covid vaccine. It’s just a name change.

    • Sheriff says:

      To clarify: the Pfizer vaccine has been renamed Comirnaty, it is the same vaccine it has always been but it has a new name now that it has received full approval by the FDA.

      https://fortune.com/2021/08/23/pfizer-covid-vaccine-comirnaty-how-it-got-its-name/

    • Anonymous says:

      You should rename yourself Gullibility.

      • Anonymous says:

        What really irks me is that the host of Radio Cayman’s Talk today show in the afternoons has on more than one occasion brought on some made up doctor and the anti-christ turned Christian from West Bay who now has given herself the title of Minister of Religion and believes that God is going to keep all of us free from covid.

        Government is spending all of this time and effort to try to get our country and its people back to some sense of normalcy and we have the host of Talk Today, our Government Radio Station, sitting there letting these two spew their disinformation and vitriol and doing nothing to counteract it.

        As I listened to the conversation, I could not believe that someone I thought had a lick of common sense could not at the very least questioned them at about their sources and proof from the disinformation they were putting out. He should be ashamed of himself. Radio Cayman is not FOX NEWS and it should never be used in that manner.

        As far as the doctor goes, if he is a real doctor, the Cayman Islands Medical and Dental Association better take a hard look at him and I know that whatever type of doctor he is, I wouldn’t want me or any of my family to get within a million feet of that cuckoo.

  4. Anon says:

    This article provides a link to a Lancet study that states, “Our primary outcome was the proportion of app users reporting adverse effects within 8 days after vaccination”. Really? 8 days after vaccination? Where is the long term safety data? There is none as these shots have been around for less than 1 year. THINK! Pfizer won’t gamble with the liability of their shot, but they want you to.

    CNS: How Do We Know the COVID-19 Vaccine Won’t Have Long-Term Side Effects?

    Read the whole thing, but here’s a snippet: “When new vaccines are released, the unknown side effects, if any, show up within two months of vaccination. This history goes back to at least the 1960s with the oral polio vaccine and examples continue through today.”

    The study on the Lancet is just one of hundreds. That one looked at immediate effects and added to the overall body of knowledge. If you don’t understand that, you should really just ask the advice of a medical professional and trust their judgement. Also, stop reading garbage on social media.

  5. Anonymous says:

    My body my choice.. don’t like it. Too bad.

    • Anonymous says:

      Your body your choice true. Until your body ties up a hospital bed that is needed by someone hit by a car, or someone who didn’t have the choice to take the vaccine. I’ll respect your choice is you sign a waiver refusing medical treatment for. Ovid. Otherwise I’ll just call you a selfish idiot.

    • Anonymous says:

      Yep and you are the same one condemning a woman when she wants to get an abortion..hypocrite much?

  6. Anonymous says:

    How were the survey participants selected? Is there a link on HSA to report symptoms?

    • Anonymous says:

      The vaccine card had a phone number to call if you experienced any symptoms not listed on the card. I did call, and it was answered immediately, and very efficiently. Thank you HSA.

  7. Anonymous says:

    They should really leave this to the professionals.

  8. Anonymous says:

    So with the new approval, are youths 15 and under no longer to take the vaxx?

    • Anonymous says:

      It is STILL approved under EUA for 12-15. For 16 and up it now has full approval. That will come for younger groups after more time has passed.

  9. Anonymous says:

    The talking heads on vaccine conspiracies have been simply outrageous spouting inaccuracies and misinformation in the most egregious manner. It’s also not lost on most of us with discerning minds that the producer of one such talk show, Word of Mouth, posted pictures of himself on social media in the throes of post-vaccine agony. Coincidence? Maybe. But equally, perhaps not.

    • Anonymous says:

      5:26: That XXXX is nothing but a drama queen. He’s not even 1/1000th as relevant as he thinks he is!

  10. Anonymous says:

    Cue the illiterate armchair scientists in 3…2…1….

  11. Anonymous says:

    HSA – Pah. Says it all, like this will be a honest representation.

  12. Anonymous says:

    The biggest vaccine side effect has to be isolationism.

  13. Anonymous says:

    It’s normal to have a sore arm and a little fever after the second jab. If interviewed I would never report that as a side effect – it means the vaccine is working and successful. So glad government are doing this to prove the anti vac lies about serious side effects in cayman as being nonsense. Let’s have boosters now if the idiots refuse to take it and want to catch covid instead when we open next month.

    • Anonymous says:

      With current stock of the vaccine due to expire in October, it may prove sensible to extend those expiring vaccine doses to 3rd booster recipients so they don’t go to waste. I had my 2nd shot in early May , so October would be my 6th month . Also extend them to both younger age groups that are eligible as well as boosters to those in older vulnerable groups, front line health services staff , etc.
      This is of course only if un-vaccinated are going to turn down their invitation for their doses , from the batches we are left with for October expiry date. The objective being to not waste crucial doses .

  14. Anonymous says:

    The Pfizer vaccine (now Comurnity) is the safest of all the vaccines to be approved in the western world. The data is showing risk of serious adverse effects (thrombosis, myocarditis and anaphylaxis) is far lower than the Moderna vaccine. This is because the Moderna shots are stronger than Pfizer’s. It’s highly unlikely, given out small population that any adverse reactions have even happened.

    Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-probing-moderna-vaccine-increased-heart-inflammation-risk-washington-post-2021-08-20/

  15. Anonymous says:

    Sadly, anti-vaxxers will just move on to their next excuse.

    • Anon says:

      The anti vaxers clearly just want no masks etc. in their Mansions with their private planes, don’t care about the average person wanting to be able to live freely.

      • Anonymous says:

        Your anger is misplaced…..wrong demographic. It’s primarily the manual labor types that are holding out.

  16. Anonymous says:

    I had a headache and redness and pain at the site. The redness was gone in about 1 hour.

  17. Anonymous says:

    i suffered from tingling sensation at the injection site and numbness down the outside of my arm to the little finger, was 2nd jabbed in april and to today still have numbness.
    only got the jab as BA said no jab no fly, went to the UK recently on BA and they didnt even ask for proof of jabbing. wont be taking any of these booster shots that are coming up

  18. Anonymous says:

    Great Job CNS as usual

    Now the question is will the government move forward with the restoration of our freedom of movement or continue to be held back by the fear of upsetting some voters.

    • ImAfraid says:

      I’m afraid we will continue to see the government keep things exactly as they are. I do not believe PACT has any intention of opening the border. I hope they prove me wrong but I have little confidence in them moving forward and even less confidence in how they will handle it when there is community transmission of the virus. We’ve all said it multiple times: Covid isn’t going to vanish. We must learn to live with it or remain in the bubble with little to no opportunity to travel freely.

      • Anonymous says:

        6:05, agree! I expect to hear some new excuse for staying closed at press briefing today. Following that, will their m.o. be another increase to population or increase in % vaccinated requirement or both?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.