CHAMPS 2022 | Vaccine mandate hurts Cornwall
Published:Sunday | April 10, 2022 | 12:15 AMAudley Boyd - News Editor â Western Bureau:
EVEN THOUGH strict mandates for the COVID-19 vaccination take-up were removed, it is a case of damage already done for Cornwall College as many athletes from the Montego Bay, St James high school had refused to take the jab and pulled out of training.
The Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) was only too glad to lift the strictures it had put in place in accordance with the Disaster Risk Management Act (DRMA), but with the announcement coming mere weeks before its flagship ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships, Cornwall could not recover.
Cornwall College’s coach Shawn Rhooms, while welcoming a full return of schools and greater competitiveness this year, said the previous guidelines had already presented a drawback for their participation.
“We never stopped competing,” Rhooms said, pointing to their build-up, in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic. “But we’re more competitive than last year and it also still has some draw backs as well, because a number of our youngsters won’t be able to participate because they never took the vaccine, so we are still at a disadvantage in that area, but happy that we can compete at a full-scale level this year.”
BIG IMPACT
Asked to elaborate on the impact vaccine mandates had on his team, he explained: “A big impact because most of our Class Three youngsters didn’t come out this year for training.
“I was begging some of them to take the vaccine and they still refused,” he noted, relating to the week prior to an announcement by the Jamaican Government to lift DRMA measures, which was followed days later by ISSA shedding its rules for fully vaccinated athletes only.
“And it’s not the youngsters, it’s the parents who are the ones who disagree, saying that they don’t get enough information on the vaccines so they are not allowing them,” Rhooms added of his school, which is still chasing its first Boys’ Champs title.
There was no Champs in 2020 due to the pandemic and at last year’s scaled down version, the Montego Bay-based institution finished 11th with 18.5 points.
The Cornwall College coach said they started preparation at the time they usually do and the programme built slowly to attract a large number of athletes. However, he said the numbers started to dwindle with an earlier announcement that requirements for full vaccine take-up was a prerequisite.
“We were able to get the programme off very early in August, with about 24 athletes, and then in November our numbers grew to about 36, and come January it went up to about 60. And then when the information came about the COVID, then it started dwindling, right down to 30-odd,” Rhooms pointed out.
“Last year we had Kaheem Reid in the hurdles final, he’s not here because of the vaccination. We’ve Keifa Grant, he made the final last year, he’s not here, he’s gone to play football. We also have a few others who didn’t turn up, same way, who were there last year.”
Despite the setbacks, Rhooms said they have a very enthusiastic group of athletes.
“The ones who we have are very enthused,” he said. “We’ve a nice little team overall. The work will just get better and better each day.”
At the time of publishing, Cornwall College had amassed 16 points and were 16th among the boys’ teams.