By Landing Colley
The Banjul South Member of Parliament has encouraged people of The Gambia not be complacence in the fight against coronavirus pandemic despite the availability of the vaccines.
Honorable Ousman Sillah made this comment as the country commenced the rollout of its first batch of the Covax Astra Zeneca vaccines on Wednesday, 10th March 2021.
Speaking to The Voice in an interview, Honorable Sillah, who doubles as the chairman of national assembly select committee on health, advised Gambians to be responsible in the fight against covid-19 despite the rollout of the vaccines.
“The use of facemasks, hand sanitizer and observing of social distancing has been in effect even after some certain restrictions were eased by the government. There is a regulation urging people to always put on facemasks when they are in public but there is nothing like enforcement of it. I want people to be responsible enough to do what is right than to be forced,” he said.
He expressed dismay about the negligent of people going out without facemasks and hand sanitizer. He urged them to be responsible enough to protect themselves from covid-19 and they should make it a priority rather than waiting for someone to protect them.
As the Gambia starts the national Covid-19 vaccination campaign “I believe if the researcher tells us that this vaccine is safe, we have no option but to believe them the fact that scientists and medical doctors are coming forward to take the jabs. I understand that there is no medicine that does not have side effect but some are very minimal,” he stated.
Meanwhile, he agreed that the Ministry should have sensitized the public before the arrival of the vaccine for better understanding.
He noted that his committee has planned to meet the ministry about the arrangement and how they are going to administer the vaccination campaign because it is their responsibility as a committee to support the process and to ensure that the jab is given to those that deserve it.
