Vax caution for under-12s

The Jamaican Government is not considering administering coronavirus vaccines to children under 12 until there is cogent scientific advice approving their use, Minister of Education, Youth and Information Fayval Williams has confirmed.

The Holness administration is pushing for the vaccination of students to ensure the seamless restart of face-to-face classes for schoolchildren, particularly those in their mid- to late teens, by mid-October. The four-day vaccination blitz, which ends on Tuesday, targets children aged 15-18 and those 12 and over who may have underlying illnesses.

Williams said the Government is hoping for 100 per cent take-up of the vaccine for teachers, students, and support staff at schools but is aware of the battle for acceptance amid concerning levels of public hesitancy. She said that virtual classes for all students were expected to commence in September and that the ministry would monitor vaccine compliance in determining the scope and scale of in-person interaction.

“Things are uncertain right now. Our target is mid-September, but we are going to be guided by the Ministry of Health and Wellness, but again, it all depends on what happens,” Williams said on the sidelines of the official opening of a sports complex in Standpipe in her St Andrew Eastern constituency on Friday.

Anxiety persists over the status and future of the youngest children because the narrow mandate targeting those aged 12-18 leaves half the school-age population, which has suffered staggering levels of learning loss, unshielded from the virus.

According to data issued by the Ministry of Education in June, the 215,958 children in publicly funded infant and primary schools represented 51 per cent of the 421,709 students aged three to 18. There were 22,082 students in infant schools and 193,876 in primary schools.

Children under 12 have historically required greater levels of face-to-face instruction for the development of cognitive and social skills.

Israel currently allows for schoolchildren aged under 12 – indeed as young as five – to be vaccinated with doses of Pfizer.

President Joseph Biden said in late July that children under 12 who do not qualify for any of the three COVID-19 vaccines in the United States could be inoculated by August or later in autumn.

Pfizer and Moderna have begun clinical trials to determine the efficacy of vaccinating children under 12 as reports indicate that more children in this age cohort are contracting COVID-19.

The Pfizer vaccine is expected to get full approval by the US Food and Drug Administration on Monday, a crucial step in further diffusing uncertainty about the inoculant.

Newly installed president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), Winston Smith, said that he would not be opposed to the vaccination of students under 12 once health officials were guided by the science.

“We trust the Ministry of Health and Wellness, and if they have a vaccine that is safe for our children, then we have no challenge once we can be assured by the relevant bodies that it is okay for children to take,” he told The Gleaner in a phone interview.

“A country like Israel has one of the most receptive take-up of the vaccine. When you look up what is happening in Israel vis-à-vis what is happening in Jamaica, we are struggling with adults to take up the vaccine, so, therefore, their citizens are more receptive to it, and as a result, more cooperative.”

Jamaica has administered 442,934 doses, according to the Ministry of Health’s vaccine tracker, but only 140,000 persons, or five per cent of the population, are fully vaccinated. An aggressive third wave has triggered spiralling infections, with overall transmissions topping 61,800 and deaths nearing 1,400. Saturday’s caseload of 556 infections, with a positivity rate of 44.1 per cent, and 17 deaths recorded from August 16-20 offer a grim forecast even in the midst of a three-day lockdown.

Smith agrees with the proposal to resume face-to-face classes with only vaccinated students

“As it is now, there is no better solution. Not that it is a good solution, but it is the better of the solutions available at this time … . As a nation, we should not try to seek a problem for every solution. We should rather seek solutions to problems because in a pandemic like this, there is no perfect solution,” he said of the two-tier system, which would allow for virtual instruction for unvaccinated children.

The JTA is aiming to team up with the National Parent-Teacher Association and the health and education ministries to further encourage vaccine take-up among students and staff.

Likewise, the United States Embassy is also aiming to forge partnerships in the bid for vaccine acceptance. Last Thursday, Jamaica received 208,260 doses of the Pfizer vaccine from the US.

“Certainly, we stand with the prime minister. We stand with people like Dr Sandra Lindsay … so we will continue to partner with the Government of Jamaica as we move forward to try and counter vaccine hesitancy,” said Charge d’Affaires Scott Feeken on Friday.

Lindsay, a Jamaica-born nurse manning a COVID critical-care hospital unit in New York, made history on December 14, 2020, as the first person to take the COVID-19 vaccine in the US.

The push for vaccination has come at a critical juncture in the management of COVID-19 globally as the senior American diplomat revealed that travellers to the US will need to be vaccinated to enter the country.

“We just learned that within the coming weeks, there will be a requirement for anyone who is entering the United States on an immigrant visa to have been vaccinated as part of that immigrant visa process to be approved for the visa,” Feeken told The Gleaner.