Vaccination risks, benefits
We all understand that tourism is paramount. However, in order to encourage people to take up the offer of COVID-19 vaccination, would it not be the best policy to be completely open with the public?
For example, the discourse about blood clots is mixing apples and oranges. Speaking on ABC RN ‘Coronacast’, Norman Swan clarified that the risk of clots when taking the contraceptive pill is cumulatively one per 1,600 woman/year. And we are talking of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) usually in the legs and not fatal.
With these vaccines, we are dealing with more dangerous different clots in the brain. German researchers put the risk at 1 in 100,000 and the UK at 1 in 250,000. The BBC’s rotating panel of worldwide experts (daily on the OS programme) says that these fatalities are extremely rare; that further investigation is needed; that the benefits outweigh the risks.
Vaccination programme
In a few hours’ time, I should be done with the vaccinations against COVID. But I have another invite to start the process all over again. Phoning 145 in order not to let my slot be wasted led me nowhere. No one picked up the phone.
As we live in a country when a scandal or two is announced with regularity, I wonder whether parallel invites are being sent out to a chosen cohort of citizens with the right pedigree knowing that others will not be turning up on those dates.
Conspiracy, I hope so, but this is what we have been reduced to in this country. As Minister Chris Fearne signs all these letters, the buck stops with him.
Justice and unity
There is indeed precious little unity – or indeed any meaningful relationship – without the underpinning of truth (Therese Comodini Cachia, February 23). And, irrespective of people’s identity, this is one thing which must transcend the usual Maltese political tribalism for dialogue to even begin. Respect is also thin on the ground when certain political offices and media are a deluge of hate and violence.
National unity ought also to have more than a passing acquaintance with the national interest. Not in a jingoistic flag-waving bigotry but getting one’s nose out of one’s navel and taking a wider view of our country. For example, rejecting a culture where injustice not only reigns but is rewarded, where getting away with murder has become not only figurative but literal. Moreover, selling oneself for permits/pretend jobs or whatever is reminiscent of the world’s oldest profession rather than a building block of national cohesion.
The value of life
We have just celebrated St Valentine’s Day. In celebrating this feast day of love, we celebrate each other’s life!
Being a medic
Muzzling the experts
The news of Kenneth Grech’s reinstatement with the COVID team “in three or four weeks” seems positive. The subtext that “government is reluctant to provide details on timelines” is where the real message lies. Read: maybe never.
If the government was serious about undoing yet another faux pas, it would be ‘three or four minutes’. This has all the air of a voice of dissent being summarily swept aside by an increasingly dictatorial attitude. This, at a time when our COVID record should be sounding the alarm among reasonable people; when we’ve had the summer and Christmas season debacles… And now look forward to another one – fuq tlieta toqgħod il-borma – for carnival/non-carnival in Gozo.