Another 96 medical professionals have now signed a letter in support of the Covid-19 vaccine, with the open letter now having close to 200 signatories.
A spokesperson said, “Another 96 medical professionals have now signed a letter in support of the Covid-19 vaccine. The open letter, first released on September 23, now has close to 200 signatures, and counting. The island’s doctors are also working together to answer some commonly heard questions in a new series designed to promote having a healthy conversation about vaccination.
“This comes after the Bermuda Medical Doctors Association [BMDA] conducted a survey in August which revealed that 95.77% of the island’s doctors would recommend the Pfizer [or Moderna] mRNA Covid-19 vaccine for a healthy adult without contraindications.
Dr. Wilbert Warner, internal medicine physician, says: “There has been an unfortunate assumption that those who hadn’t yet signed the letter were somehow against vaccination, which is simply not the case. Some had not yet had the opportunity, and the list of doctors on the Bermuda register includes many that no longer work here, who now live abroad, visiting specialists or retired physicians.”
Dr Fiona Ross, local GP, added: “As a doctor, you are portrayed as either/or. You’re a slave to science who just wants to vaccinate or you’re a holistic naturopath, when the reality is the majority of us practice holism. We need to have a conversation about how these meet.”
“The doctors are seeing the same questions coming up surrounding hot topics such as boosting natural immunity, Ivermectin as a treatment, worries about fertility and the vaccine’s effect on breastfed babies,” a spokesperson said.
“So far the conversation around combatting Covid-19 has largely been led by the Government and we saw this as an opportunity to help speak to the public’s fears and concerns. Hesitancy is natural, especially when it comes to something unfamiliar and it’s important to take government out of the equation because there’s so much mistrust among people everywhere. This is not just specific to Bermuda.
“I don’t want anyone to feel forced into getting vaccinated. As a doctor, I want you to ask questions; I want you to talk to me; I want you to tell me your concerns; And I want you to know the benefits. People just want to know they’re going to be safe and if they fear the vaccine that’s really powerful. Offering streams of statistics going back to March 2020 doesn’t help everyone. These are people’s beliefs. Once you respect that, it becomes easier to have a conversation.”
Dr Louise White, Local GP, adds that are so many options out there, such as calling your GP’s office or visiting the Department of Health’s weekend pop-up clinics at The Hamilton Princess.
“All the research and data has been a big learning curve for us as well,” Dr White added. “More than six and a half billion doses of the vaccine have been administered worldwide. We’ve now got all this evidence out which emphatically demonstrates it much safer to be vaccinated against Covid-19 than to catch it when you are unvaccinated.
“The doctors still agree that the vaccine is our number one chance at beating the virus,” a spokesperson said.
“For all of us, vaccinated or not, it is not a matter of if we will be exposed to Covid-19, but when. Risking catching Covid when you have not been vaccinated is like Russian Roulette. It’s like betting everything you’ve got on red – and it comes up black. When it comes to Covid-19, we know that the elderly population do worse, we know that diabetics and co-morbidities do worse, but we don’t know why some fit and healthy 40-year-olds die, while others get away with a sniffle. We really don’t know. We do know that this is mostly preventable. We had to deal with the horror of the first wave, but now it’s preventable.
Dr Warner added: “I think it’s great that Bermuda’s doctors are standing up and saying this is what we believe.”
Full list of signatories below:
- Dr. Annie Pinto
- Dr. Wendy M Woods
- Dr. Andrew West
- Dr. Joseph Froncioni
- Dr. Jennifer Barth
- Dr. Annabel Carter
- Dr. Burton Butterfield
- Dr. Jonathan Power
- Dr. Kristen Woodward
- Dr. Nicola Terceira
- Dr. Benjamin Lau
- Dr. Laura Murphy
- Dr. Stephen Kenny
- Dr. Sylvanus Nawab
- Dr. Sophie Mathew
- Dr. Hannah Murray
- Dr. Edgar Griffith
- Dr. Kathryn Suter
- Dr. Cathryn Siddle
- Dr. Elaine Campbell
- Dr. Ruth Macdonald
- Dr. Milan Oleksak
- Dr. Joanna Sherratt-Wyer
- Dr. Michael Urdang
- Dr. Mahesh Reddy
- Dr. Jeffrey MacLeod
- Dr. JJ Soares
- Dr. Conor Ryan
- Dr. Shaina Kelly
- Dr. William Peckett
- Dr. Catherine Wakely
- Dr. Ranjini Patton
- Dr. Chris Fosker
- Dr. Sharon Alikani
- Dr. Mike Czerwinski
- Dr. Emma Robinson
- Dr. Suraia Barclay
- Dr. Louise White
- Dr. Constance Richards
- Dr. Patrick Murray
- Dr. Gordon Campbell
- Dr. Kim Foley
- Dr. Ramon Arscott
- Dr. Louise White
- Dr. Sarah Winstanley
- Dr. Wilbert Warner
- Dr. Maureen Burke
- Dr. Hayley Morton
- Dr. Sam DeCouto
- Dr. Chikezie Dean Okereke
- Dr. Joanne Lysack
- Dr. Ryan Bates
- Dr. Diane Kooiman
- Dr. Fiona Ross
- Dr. Ewart Brown
- Dr. George G. Shaw
- Dr. Andrea Curkova
- Dr. Alexander Romeo
- Dr. Eugene Outerbridge
- Dr. Margot Harvey
- Dr. Lynette E. Thomas
- Dr. Chantelle Simmons
- Dr. Marva V. Phillips-Williams
- Dr. Roslyn Bascombe-Adams
- Dr. Brenda Davidson
- Dr. Duane D. H. Pit
- Dr. Heather Kettenis
- Dr. Amy Gutman
- Dr. Samantha Price
- Dr. Stephen West
- Dr. Jonathan Makanjuola
- Dr. Richard Fulton
- Dr. Matthew Arnold
- Dr. Richard Hammond
- Dr. Kerry Brislane
- Dr. James Cappadonna
- Dr. John Gaugain
- Dr. Alicia Morris
- Dr. Simon Morton
- Dr. Andrew Spence
- Dr. Charles Swart
- Dr. Ayoola O. Oyinloye
- Dr. Anna Nielsen-Williams
- Dr. Daniele Williams
- Dr. David Wakeley
- Dr. Monica Hoefert
- Dr. Boris Vestweber
- Dr. Carla Reese
- Dr. Michael Ashton
- Dr. Annabel Fountain
- Dr. Phillip Bell
- Dr. Gordon Kooiman
- Dr. Basil Wilson
- Dr. Gerard Boonstra
- Dr. Cheryl Peek-Ball
- Dr. Brent Williams
- Dr. Christiane Lippeck
- Dr. Deborah Daly
- Dr. Akbar Lightbourne
- Dr. Shane Marshall
- Dr. Peter Maclellan
- Dr. Heather Montgomery
- Dr. Mandisa Robinson
- Dr. TerryLynn Emery
- Alyssa Frick, Occupational Therapist
- Bruno Teixeira, Physiotherapist
- Chloe MacDonald, Registered Dietitian
- Dr. Alex Fay, Dentist
- Dr. Alexis Mackenzie, Dentist
- Dr. Alicia Maybury, Dentist
- Dr. Alton Trott
- Dr. Ash Syed
- Dr. Carl Mackenzie, Dentist
- Dr. Carmen Rabain, Dentist
- Dr. Christopher Allington, Dentist
- Dr. David Samuels, Dentist
- Dr. Helen Christopher, Dentist
- Dr. Ian Campbell, Dentist
- Dr. James Fay, Dentist
- Dr. Janie Brown, Dentist
- Dr. Kevin Harney, Dentist
- Dr. Kiron James, Dentist
- Dr. Kyjuan Brown
- Dr. Lara Loesher, Dentist
- Dr. Len Wedlich, Dentist
- Dr. Lorna Hall, Dentist
- Dr. Michael Lopez, Dentist
- Dr. Murphey Osbourne
- Dr. Natalie Burdon-Bruce, Dentist
- Dr. Paula Estwick
- Dr. Peter Perinchief
- Dr. Raymond Swainson, Dentist
- Dr. Roddy Moore
- Dr. Ronda James, Dentist
- Dr. Stephen J. Sherwin
- Dr. Steven Cardwell, Dentist
- Dr. Takira Hypolite, Dentist
- Dr. Tamar Nasqidashvili
- Dr. Clyde Wilson
- Dr. Yusef Morant-Wade
- Alexandra Wilberz, Registered Physiotherapist
- Dr. Andrew Jamieson
- Dr. Celeste Maycock
- Dr. Fara-Jane Sebastian-Buankr
- Dr. Htay Myint
- Dr. James A. Fay, Dentist
- Dr. Jay Dennehy
- Dr. Joseph Yammine
- Dr. Keith Chiappa
- Dr. Keith McKenzie
- Dr. Michael Brooks
- Dr. Nevin Williams
- Dr. Nicole Hart
- Dr. Nisrine Atieh
- Dr. Peter Babeckas
- Dr. Phillip Jones
- Dr. Roger Wong
- Dr. Sam Mir
- Dr. Sein Aung
- Dr. Shamaila Shamin
- Dr. Wendy Outerbridge
- Dr. Michael Hawking
- Dr. Angela Marini
- Dr. Fermin Gonzalez
- Dr. Seb Henagulph, Psychiatrist
- Dr Keira Smith, Dentist
- Dr Frances Betts, Dentist
- Dr. Laura Henagulph, Clinical Psychologist
- Dr. Debbie Benson
- Craig Brown, Registered Physiotherapist
- Kate Kyme, Registered Physiotherapist
- Elizabeth Peckett, Registered Physiotherapist
- Hannah Jones, Registered Dietitian
- Hollie Cornick, Registered Dietitian
- Kathleen Mowat, Registered Physiotherapist
- Keelin Hankin, Registered Dietitian and Nutritionist
- Lizzy de Angelis, Registerd Dietitian
- Marie Fay, Occupational Therapist
- Nicola MacDougall, Registered Physiotherapist
- Rose-Anna Hoey, Occupational therapist
- Sally Teixeira, Registered Physiotherapist
- Sarah Williamson, Registered Dietitian
- Shara Crunden, Registered physiotherapist
- Stephen Lightbourne,Registered Physiotherapist
- Jessica Therrien, Registered Nurse
- Nadine Blake, Registered Nurse
- Maxine Herbert-Watson, Registered Nurse
- Synda Cook-Roberts, Registered Nurse
- Sharon Scott-Burchall, Registered Nurse
- Jessica Therrien, Registered Nurse
- Laura Law, Registered Nurse
- Nadine Blake, Registered Nurse
- Irena Ashton, Registered Nurse
- Hanah Cannon, Registered Dietitian
- Barbara McCreight Registered Nurse
- Myrian Balitian-Dill, Nurse Practitioner
- Yvonne McHugh Registered Nurse
- Miriam Hook, Registered Nurse
