The month of August was ushered in with updated COVID-19 Emergency Measures as has become the norm for the past 15 months or so. This time around, however, these guidelines introduced sweeping changes which were, expectedly, accompanied by some opposition.

First of all, for film fanatics like myself, approval was finally granted for the reopening of cinemas. At first, the restrictions on concessions (selling snacks and drinks) resulted in our local cinemas stating that it was not economically viable for them to reopen. But, they later changed their minds (yay!).

But, that’s not even the most interesting and perhaps controversial part of the new measures.

Vaccination became a strong focus, and (sort of) guided how we engage in our daily activities. As per the gazetted measures, unless you are vaccinated (that is, you must have at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine) you can no longer just walk into a government agency or ministry and access services. Instead, you are required to make an appointment.

This includes the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), the Georgetown Public Hospital, and all of the government offices.

Already, people have been turned away, and based on the evident pushback plastered across social media and fueling some small protests, it was clear that some people are not in agreement. On the other hand, though, we have seen a surge in the number of people getting vaccinated.

This requirement also led to considerations over people’s employment. Unvaccinated employees were asked to present a negative PCR COVID-19 test every three days to a week, depending on where they work and what the institutional guidelines are.

Just for context, it costs about GY$20,000 or about US$100 to get one of these tests done privately. The public tests- done through the National Public Health Reference Laboratory- would not be made available for these purposes.

In Guyana, we had some protests in Region 10 (Upper Demerara- Berbice) after the unvaccinated staff of the Linden Hospital Complex and unvaccinated citizens were denied entry.

Following those protests, however, Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony granted a two-week compliance period before the measures take effect. It is expected that during this time, more and more people would get vaccinated (and, again, we have seen this actually happening).

If you know me, you would know that I am a fervent advocate for vaccination. Vaccination saves lives and they have been saving lives for a very long time (think about all those vaccines you get as a child). These vaccines are no different, and research has shown that they decrease hospitalisations and deaths.

Just to be clear, as I have written before, I am not saying that the vaccines are some magic “jab” that will prevent individuals from becoming infected and repelling the ‘COVID’ outright. I am saying that they are proven to be able to stop people from ending up in the COVID hospital, fighting for dear life on a ventilator and a tube down one’s throat.

I know the value of vaccinations and I try to encourage others to get vaccinated. But, I believe that we need greater public education to help others to understand the value of these COVID-19 vaccines.

No doubt, Guyana has tried to engage in public education. For me, however, I believe that a greater emphasis has to be placed on engaging people on their concerns and fears. It’s one thing to present good, credible information (and sometimes highly scientific information at that) to people from reputable sources but it is an entirely different thing to hear their concerns or hear the misconceptions they have adopted and help them to think deeper.

Public education, especially to promote COVID-19 vaccination, needs to involve bridging the gap between the technical, scientific knowledge from reputable sources like the World Health Organization (WHO) and the average individual who might not even know what a virus is.

While we move towards encouraging people to get vaccinated and placing some restrictions on the unvaccinated people in our country, I believe that we also have to ensure that people can take ownership of the decisions being made to protect themselves and their families. That, for me, is how you encourage people to comply with measures instituted in their best interest.

If you would like to connect with me to discuss COVID-19, this column, or any of my previous works, feel free to email me at vish14ragobeer@gmail.com. You can also check out my COVID-19 podcast on Spotify or Google Podcasts by searching for “POD-19”.