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‘Effortless and amazing’: GG gets COVID jab

by Randy Bennett
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Exactly one week after being quarantined, Governor General Dame Sandra Mason has taken the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19.

And Dame Sandra, 72, who scored a variety of firsts in a stellar legal career before becoming the second female Governor General and the eighth viceroy appointed since Independence, has urged Barbadians to follow her lead and take the jab.

Last Thursday, Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced that Dame Sandra was forced to quarantine after a member of her Government House staff tested positive for the coronavirus.

After returning two negative test results, Dame Sandra said she had been eagerly anticipating the vaccine.

Moments after receiving the injection she said: “When I heard that the vaccine was coming I made sure that I informed the authorities that I wanted to be if not first in line, third or fourth or fifth, and I am grateful that they listened and I have had my first dose of the vaccine and I look forward to getting my second dose.”

Dame Sandra advised Barbadians to consult with their health care professionals and to avoid relying on the internet for information on the vaccine.

She said while she understood their concerns, taking the vaccination was the best option at this time.

The Governor General said: “I can only say that I am very happy and ecstatic almost to receive the vaccination and I hope many of our Barbadians follow suit. You have your reservations, you have your concerns, sit and speak with your health professionals. Do not necessarily go to the internet and look at all of the literature that is there.

“Of course in every instance, you are going to have the for and the against situation, I was brought up on that as an attorney-at-law. So after you have mulled it over and listened to your health professionals, you’ve listened to your conscience and you’ve listened to your God, do what you want to do, which I hope is to take the vaccine.”

Describing the experience as “effortless and amazing” the Governor General said she chose to take the vaccine publicly to assure Barbadians.

“I chose to do it publicly because people are generally doubtful,” she said. “I wanted everyone to trust my word that I had it.”

Dame Sandra also used the opportunity to thank the Government of India for providing 100,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was made at the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine maker.

Recounting her quarantine last week, the Governor General said she made sure not to panic after receiving the news that one of her staff tested positive for COVID-19.

She said she could now “breathe a sigh of relief”.

“When I was told that one of our police officers had contracted it, I didn’t panic,” Dame Sandra said. “I hardly ever panic about anything because I believe that there is a response for practically everything. In those circumstances when I was informed I just gathered all of the staff together and told them that we must all be tested.

“Fortunately for us, they came right away, we were all tested, we got our results back, and I obviously thought that the place would have to be sanitized, following the protocols. So we all moved out of the Government House and then five days later we had a second test. Having had the second test that proved negative I can breathe a sigh of relief.”

The first woman member of the Barbados Bar Association in 1975, Dame Sandra was also the first female magistrate appointed as an Ambassador from Barbados. In 2008,  she became the first female appointed as a Judge of the Court of Appeal.

Last month, she completed her third year of tenure as Governor General, but is likely to be the last viceroy of Barbados, if the Mottley administration proceeds with its plan to decouple from the British Crown and become a republic by the 55th anniversary of independence from Britain in November. (RB)

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