No mandatory vaccine
Holness hits road to convince J’cans to take jab
Prime Minister Andrew Holness appears to have taken mandatory vaccination off the table, insisting that the Government’s focus is getting people to take the jab, through public education.
“As it stands right now, the Government is not thinking about or inclined to mandate any vaccines. In fact, we don’t believe that it is something that would meet the constitutional test so there is no need for any social disruption in that regard,” Holness said.
The prime minister’s declaration come amid protests in two Caribbean countries - Barbados and St Vincent and the Grenadines - where the governments have taken steps to have mandatory and coerced vaccination.
Holness said that his Government’s objective is to ensure that vaccines are widely available as well as to educate the population on how vaccines work.
Dr Jacquiline Bisasor-McKenzie, Jamaica’s chief medical officer, who, like Holness, was speaking at a COVID-19 press conference yesterday, said that the vaccines are “extremely effective against severe illness, hospitalisations and deaths”.
Holness said that Jamaica is in the upward swing of a new surge and that vaccines are critical in the fight against the virus. He said that the implementation of tight restrictions is “not feasible for much longer”.
While stating that “the only feasible solution is for us to take the vaccine”, Holness said his administration is focused on getting people to understand the benefits of getting the shots.
PUBLIC EDUCATION
“The Government is not at this point thinking about anything to do with any mandate for vaccines. We are in the phase of public education, getting availability and widespread dispersion of the vaccines in the island, and creating incentives for persons to take the vaccine. That is the phase that we have to work on and we have to focus on,” the prime minister said while adding that he will be hitting the ground to help convince Jamaicans to take the jab.
“I will be going into the nooks and cranny, in the same way that I went about asking for your votes, [it] is the same way that I will go about to ask you to preserve our livelihood and your life and livelihood and take the vaccine. We will be going on the road, going right across Jamaica to get out people to understand and to be aware to take the vaccine,” Holness said.
The Government has set a target of inoculating 65 per cent of the population by next March. To date, 372,911 shots have been administered, with 132,439 persons fully vaccinated. The Ministry of Health and Wellness last week missed its target of vaccinating 150,000 persons during a weeklong blitz. Approximately 63,000 persons were vaccinated over the period. The Health Ministry said it will be seeking to administer some 700,000 doses of the vaccine by the end of September.
Prime Minister Holness, in announcing tightened measures to control the spread of the virus yesterday, said the Government anticipated the surge in coronavirus infections at the time when the measures were relaxed last month. In seeking to explain why the measures were loosened, Holness said the Government saw rising public pressure and threat of civil unrest if there was no relaxation.
“We saw the fatigue and tension in the society that was under the imposition of serious restrictions from February this year, going into June. We heard the cries and complaints of businesses and general citizens who felt that the restrictions were having a psychological impact on their businesses and their livelihood and they just needed a break,” the prime minister said.