Senior Head of Internal Medicine and Cardiology at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) Dr. Mahendra Carpen, who took the COVID-19 vaccine a week ago said that the symptoms he experienced were mild.
Dr. Carpen said that, in his experience, he is not regretful that he took the vaccine as he is now in a better position to protect himself from the coronavirus as a frontline health worker.
“The day I got the vaccine I continued my regular day. I went on to see my patients, I went on to operate on my patients. In the night I had some slight low-grade fever and chills, I took some Tylenol or Panadol and it disappeared. By the next day, I was back at work and I continued since then for the last week,” Dr. Carpen said in a message on the Ministry of Health’s Facebook page.
The Ministry of Health has informed the public that taking the COVID-19 vaccine will not give persons immunity against the virus but will protect them from its adverse effects such as complications and disease.
The Ministry of Health also continues to inform the Guyanese public that in receiving the vaccine, persons experience symptoms but these are not serious enough to adversely affect their health. It takes about two weeks for a person’s full immune response to kick in.
According to Dr. Carpen, taking the vaccine was worth it. “I’m happy that I’m now better off, I’m stronger in the fight against COVID-19,” he said.
The first COVID-19 vaccine was administered in Guyana on February 11, 2021, at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) to Pharmacist, Brinnet Bernarai who works at the hospital.
It marked the first of a number of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, donated by Barbados, which will be administered over the next few days to health workers at the frontline of the COVID-19 fight.
It is estimated that about 22,000 health workers will initially receive vaccines.
Meanwhile, a national group has been established to monitor the possible side effects of the vaccine which could be reactogenic or adverse — the latter being more serious.
However, according to the Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, Guyana has not received any reports of adverse side effects as a result of taking the AstraZeneca vaccine.
