WATCH: Leaders within the Guam governor’s public health policy circle assure the public of the safety of the Pfizer vaccine for kids, and give some insight about when the economy will be fully reopened.
Annette Aguon, administrator of the Department of Public Health and Social Services Bureau of Communicable Diseases, and Dr. Robert Leon Guerrero with the governor’s Physicians Advisory Group, speak with Kandit’s Troy Torres about questions viewers have had about the safety of the vaccine for kids, insight into coronavirus-related deaths involving vaccinated Guamanians, and a metric for determining when it may be recommended for the full function of the economy to be allowed.
Here are the Cliff’s notes resulting from the conversation:
- The vaccine is safe for kids
- In weighing the pros and cons of the Guam situation (high infection rate, low death rate, high vaccine rate, bad economy, etc.), it is important to factor in the high rates of people with disease (obesity, lung issues, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc.), and the high incidence of multi-generation gatherings in home settings
- The coronavirus will not go away. It will remain with us, and just like the flu, booster shots will be needed every now and then to avoid getting too sick
- There will be a point, when public health policy will treat the situation as endemic, rather than pandemic. Officials are considering when that will be
- In the meantime, it is important for more people to get vaccinated – as ‘herd immunity’ is unknown at this point – and to continue wearing masks, washing hands, and social distancing
- Of those who died of coronavirus-related illness, most died with COVID-19 as a significant contributing factor to the death
