Vaccine vibe shifts, says CMO

Jamaica’s health officials are banking on an upswing in COVID-19 vaccinations as new survey data are emerging suggesting a softening of the high levels of hesitancy that have stymied the pace of inoculation.

That news is likely to be a fillip for the Government as its vaccination campaign sputters in the face of a third wave of infections.

“What some of the surveys are showing now is that there is a movement … ,” said Chief Medical Officer Dr Jacquiline Bisasor-McKenzie at a mobile vaccination site at Sovereign mall in Liguanea, St Andrew, on Thursday.

“Before, we would have seen a 30 per cent, 40 per cent uptake from the Jamaican population. Some of the latest surveys that we have done are showing upwards of 60 per cent of persons saying that, yes, they will take it.”

Bisasor-McKenzie attributed the decrease in reservations to the number of vaccine blitzes and community-based campaigns as the Government ramps up its acquisition of doses that have been hard to come by on the global market.

Jamaica received a shot in the arm with a gift of 300,000 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca from the British government late July.

The mobilisation of vaccination teams into communities across the island appears to be a shift in the Government’s strategy as healthcare officials seek to visit homes for the elderly and partner with influencers to encourage immunisation against the highly contagious virus, which has killed more than 1,200 persons here since March 2020.

Simply put: If Mohammad will not go to the mountain, the mountain will come to Mohammad.

Town criers have also been deployed to rural communities.

The chief medical officer anticipates that in the coming weeks, persons below the age of 50 will represent the largest vaccinated group in the country as early trends indicate that those persons are more enthusiastic about getting the jab than their older counterparts.

Jamaica’s national weekly vaccination target has still been lagging behind as at Wednesday, only 47 per cent of the target of 98,000 doses had been administered.

Bisasor-McKenzie, the chief adviser to the State on health policy, expressed disappointment with the number of persons over age 60 who have taken the vaccine so far. The elderly and persons with underlying illnesses are among the most vulnerable to severe illness and death from COVID-19.

“We would have hoped that we would have passed that danger zone in terms of getting those persons protected, but there are still quite a few people that are out there,” she said.

Dr Bisasor-McKenzie believes that the health ministry will be in a better position to achieve increased vaccination rates with the arrival of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson. Persons who get the Oxford-AstraZeneca take two doses to be fully vaccinated.

Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Dunstan Bryan, said that establishing vaccination sites such as at high-traffic areas like Sovereign allows for members of the public to quiz nurses and community health aides.

“One of the questions that came up for a lot of persons ... was the impact of vaccination on fertility,” he said.

Bryan said that many women were waiting to see the impact of vaccines on their bodies.

The Sovereign pop-up push comes on the heels of earlier initiatives this week in seven communities across the island: Tivoli Gardens, Olympic Gardens, Vineyard Town, Ebony Vale, Point Hill, Kitson Town, and Brown’s Town.

“In Kitson Town, Ebony Vale, Point Hill, Brown’s Hall, there were approximately 952 persons that received the vaccination in those communities for the first time. There is a small percentage of less than one per cent for second dose. The target going into those communities was 700, so the target was surpassed,” he said.

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