September 9, 2021
A 13-year-old girl, who took ill after being vaccinated against COVID-19 on Tuesday, was up to last night still receiving medical attention.
Whether her illness is related to the vaccine or not has not been confirmed but the Health Ministry, which is investigating the case, has since moved to assure the public that the COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective.
The girl, who hails from Parika, was taken by her mother to be inoculated with the Pfizer vaccine on Tuesday morning. However, several minutes after the teen was vaccinated, she began experiencing shortness of breath before falling unconscious. The child, who was hospitalised twice and discharged, was at press time at the Leonora Cottage Hospital being prepared for transfer to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) to be admitted for observation.
Annette Yusuff, the mother of the girl, posted to Facebook about what occurred and it has since heightened fears among many parents whose children are still to receive the vaccine.
The Health Ministry has been rolling out the adolescent vaccine programme countrywide over the course of recent weeks.
Following Yusuff’s post, the Ministry of Health on Tuesday night also made a post assuring the public that the vaccines are safe and referred to the fact that the child had been discharged. However, the public upon learning that yesterday morning the teen was still in the hospital, expressed anger and accused the ministry of a cover-up.
When contacted by this publication, Yusuff explained that while the child was discharged from hospital on Tuesday afternoon, she was admitted to another hospital late Tuesday night and remained a patient at the hospital until yesterday morning, when she was discharged just after 8 am.
According to Yusuff, her daughter, the eldest of three siblings, received the vaccine at the Parika Salem Secondary School. Within a matter of minutes, she began complaining of an upset stomach, of not being able to see anything and having shortness of breath before losing consciousness. “… Her eyes just roll back in her head and she faint…” Yusuff recalled. She shared that health officials there during the incident unsuccessfully tried reviving the child with some of the alcohol they were using as a sanitising agent. With no ambulance on site, the mother rushed the teen to the Leonora Cottage Hospital. She said that upon arrival at the hospital, the child was given oxygen. The teen regained consciousness about an hour after fainting and shortly afterwards was discharged; no tests were carried out.
After they returned home, Yusuff said that her daughter seemed back to normal and was chatting with them, then about 10.30 on Tuesday night she began complaining of feeling upset and of shortness of breath before fainting again. “We rush her back to [Leonora Cottage] hospital again and they gave her oxygen again and they also gave her saline. They had her there for about 2 hours then they said they’ll have to transfer her to Best [West Demerara Regional Hospital]. I told them I’m not going to take her to Best but if they could instead write up the referral for Woodlands Hospital. When we get to Woodlands, they said my daughter would have to do a COVID test to show that she is not COVID positive before they could treat her. They say before we got to wait on the test is best we take her to Georgetown Public Hospital. We get there at Emergency, they gave her more saline and oxygen and by morning [yesterday morning] she was better. She did the COVID test and she tested negative. They did a pressure test and a heart test and everything was fine according to the tests,” the woman informed. Yusuff noted that the only thing the doctor said was a bit low was her magnesium level but explained it was nothing for her to worry about.
After her discharge, the woman said, her daughter had not complained about shortness of breath. She was however experiencing other apparent side effects from the vaccine, including a mild fever, stiffness and swelling of the vaccination site and she complained of feeling like she was getting a cold. Sinus problems, Yusuff said, is common for the teen, who deals with this on a daily basis when she wakes up in the mornings. The mother added that her daughter has no underlying conditions and has never suffered from any illnesses besides the common cold or flu.
Members of the public had also commented that maybe the child didn’t have anything to eat before receiving the vaccine but according to Yusuff, her daughter had had her breakfast that morning as she normally would.
Yusuff said they were contacted by the Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony minutes after 10 yesterday morning and he inquired about the case and the teen’s medical treatment as well as her current condition. She said the minister promised to send several doctors to have the teen further checked out. Last evening when she spoke to this newspaper, the woman said they had received a call shortly before informing them that the doctors were on their way.
Up until last evening, they had not been contacted by anyone from the Ministry of Education.
At the time of the interview, the teen was at home recovering. However, a second call placed to the family last night to confirm whether the doctors had visited could not be ascertained as Yusuff reported that her daughter had moments prior, suffered another episode and was in the process of being transferred to GPH.
