Almost 96 per cent of Bermuda’s doctors recommended the Covid-19 vaccine in a major survey of the profession by the Bermuda Medical Doctors’ Association.

The association poll found 68 island doctors said they would recommend the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine for healthy adults compared to just three who would not.

Benjamin Lau, the BMDA president said the “overwhelming majority” of doctors backed vaccination to protect the public in the anonymous survey carried out last month.

Dr Lau said: “As health professionals we respect one another and quality of care can only be strengthened by sharing our varied approaches to treating patients through evidence-based practices.

“The last outbreak claimed over 20 Bermudian lives, some of the recovered are still experiencing ongoing symptoms and Covid-19 patients are once again being admitted to hospital and the intensive care unit.

“As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to worsen in many countries, further fuelled by the Delta variant, we are united in our goal to provide the best outcomes for all our patients.”

He added that the pandemic had caused division around the world, but that the BMDA’s sole interest was the welfare of the public.

Dr Lau said: “We collaborate every day across practices and specialities to protect and care for individual and collective health.

“We believe that individual physicians should be free to express their opinions and experience and, while the vast majority of doctors encourage vaccination, our care does not discriminate.

“The Bermuda physician community will continue to work together to deliver high quality healthcare for everyone.”

The survey was open to all doctors and got 71 responses.

The results showed 95.77 per cent of doctors would recommend the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine for a healthy adult with no complicating factors and 90 per cent would recommend the Pfizer vaccine for healthy children aged between 12 and 15.

The survey found 90.14 per cent would recommend the AstraZeneca vaccine for healthy adults over 40 without contraindications.

Almost 72 per cent said they would recommend the AstraZeneca shot for healthy adults under 40.

About 91.5 per cent said they were convinced Covid-19 vaccines helped contain the spread of the coronavirus.

More than 97 per cent of doctors, 69 of those surveyed, said they recommended vaccinations – not including Covid-19 vaccines – to fight disease against 2.82 per cent who did not.

About 91.5 per cent of doctors surveyed – 64 – said they were convinced that Covid-19 vaccines were a vital factor in the cutting the spread of the disease against 8.57 per cent who were not.

Dr Lau said the poll was the first of several to be carried out by the BMDA to give doctors a way to voice their opinions on a variety of subjects.