Gov’t pushing back against anti-vaxxers

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton says that the Government will be redoubling its efforts to push back against anti-vaccination crusaders who continue to affect the roll-out of the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination programme.

He said the anti-vaccination movement has become well resourced and has utilised alternative media to push the narrative “that somehow vaccination is bad for you”.

“There are people who discourage other people from taking the vaccine, whether in the health centre context, at home, or in the community, and some of those persons are family members. We will continue to push back against this, and we have to do a lot more to push back,” Tufton said.

He was speaking with journalists following a visit to the COVID-19 vaccination blitz at the Sean Lavery Faith Hall in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, on Sunday, where more than 1,000 persons received the first of two doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

The event was part of the ministry’s four-day islandwide vaccination exercise, which continues until today.

Tufton argued that much of the hesitancy towards the COVID-19 vaccine is due to misinformation, which the ministry intends to surmount with greater public awareness.

“The vaccine hesitancy is emerging as one of the bigger challenges that we face ... I am hoping that all well-thinking Jamaicans will rationalise and reason that Jamaica has been vaccinating its population for the last number of years, and nothing is wrong with us, clearly,” he said.

“I don’t think we should start questioning our vaccine programme here and now,” he added, noting that vaccines save as many as two million lives worldwide per year.

Tufton said that the Government continues to partner with several stakeholders, including the Church and political representatives, to assist in getting persons vaccinated.

“We have engaged the Church, we have engaged the members of Parliament, our councillors, our civic groups to get a national movement going because in the end, it is really about how we respond to what is a major threat to our population as it is to the world,” he noted.

Tufton said that he was pleased with the progress of the vaccination blitz in Westmoreland, with reports of an increase in the vaccine take-up as more categories of persons are added to the group of Jamaicans who can be vaccinated.