The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

NURSE Ramanda Lee became one of the first Bahamians to get the COVID-19 vaccine last Friday, pushing aside her initial scepticism.

The 34-year-old grew up in New Providence but moved to the United States about nine years ago and currently works as a nurse at the Jackson South Medical Center in Florida. The Jackson Health System has received over 19,000 vaccines that are being distributed throughout its hospitals.

“My hospital, we got thrown into the whole COVID situation that was going on and what prompted me to get the vaccine was just seeing what the patients and families have been going through,” Nurse Lee told The Tribune. “I felt personally that it was a step in the right direction to be one of the first people to get the vaccine.”

Receiving the Pfizer vaccine, she said, was a simple, non-extraordinary process.

“It was just like every other vaccination that you’ve done,” she said. “They registered me because it is a new vaccine and they want you to wait 15 to 30 minutes to see if you have a reaction. When I didn’t have a reaction, they let me back to work. This is day three now and while there is soreness to the injection site which is normal, I’ve had no effects.”

Receiving a vaccine would ordinarily not be newsworthy, but the COVID-19 jab has been the subject of intense misinformation for months which has discouraged many.

Nurse Lee said for a while, even she was sceptical about the new drug.

“I was a little sceptical at first to get it just because of all the information that has been circulating through the internet and social media,” she said. “It does put a fear in you. I was going back and forth with my husband about getting it and doing my own research to decide what I would do. I thought to myself, ‘should I wait, should I see what side effects are going to happen’ and I was like, I’m a nurse, I’m taught to look up evidence-based articles and research and see what’s out there. Why am I going to believe what someone on Instagram is telling me and they’re not even a medical expert?”

Nurse Lee said she encountered sceptics even among family and friends.

“I had a lot of conversations with my immediate family,” she said. “The internet and social media have become a huge downfall for us in terms of correct knowledge and misinformation being spread. When I talked to family and friends about it, they said ‘oh they will inject microchips into you. Oh it’s the mark of the beast.’ How many things in the last 34 years have they said, ‘oh it’s the mark of the beast’?”

A video of Nurse Lee receiving the shot prompted negative remarks on social media.

“Some people say they don’t believe I got it because they don’t see the needle going into my arm,” she said. “A video I posted was put on a Bahamian Facebook page and people were saying they don’t see it injecting. Growing up in the Bahamas, we all have our immunisation cards. We’ve gotten the Tetanus shot, we get the Hep B shots, you get polio shots. Come on people, we’re trying to do better for each other. You can have your feelings, but you don’t have to spread negativity when it’s something that’s so groundbreaking.”