Fri | Jan 10, 2025

St Elizabeth residents shun AstraZeneca

Published:Wednesday | September 29, 2021 | 2:44 AMRuddy Mathison/Gleaner Writer
A sanitation worker walks through an almost empty auditorium at Dinthill Technical High School in St Catherine during a vaccination blitz on Sunday. Approximately 7.7 per cent of the Jamaican population has been fully vaccinated. The country is targeting f
Ian Allen
A sanitation worker walks through an almost empty auditorium at Dinthill Technical High School in St Catherine during a vaccination blitz on Sunday. Approximately 7.7 per cent of the Jamaican population has been fully vaccinated. The country is targeting full vaccination of 1.9 million people by March 2022.

VACCINE HESITANCY and preference are rife in St Elizabeth, forcing health officials to embark on public education campaigns to encourage more persons to take the available vaccine. Health officials have disclosed that there is evidence of a...

VACCINE HESITANCY and preference are rife in St Elizabeth, forcing health officials to embark on public education campaigns to encourage more persons to take the available vaccine.

Health officials have disclosed that there is evidence of a growing reluctance on the part of the citizens in the parish to taking the AstraZeneca vaccine. However, this reluctance is not evident where the Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson vaccines are concerned.

The concerns are mounting because the health department now has to deal with this fallout and the rising cases of COVID-19 in every parish.

“I have no evidence to suggest that the Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson are cannibalising the vaccine outreach, but what we are seeing is more people coming in requesting these vaccines and when they are not available, they declined to take the AstraZeneca brand,” said Chief Parish Manager for the St Elizabeth Health Services Sean Brissett.

“What we do know as a result of the compound effect of these variables we are seeing increased hospitalisation from persons contracting the virus, and this is putting tremendous strain on the health sector in the parish that is woefully short of public health nurses,” the parish health services manager noted.

Up to Saturday September 25, there were 51 COVID-19 positive cases in the Black River Hospital, of which 12 are in isolation.

MAJORITY OF COVID PATIENTS UNVACCINATED

Brissett said based on the information he received from the hospital staff, the majority of the persons admitted for COVID-19 were unvaccinated.

Rupert Jones, who has been transporting people to the different blitz sites, told The Gleaner that he has personally experienced persons who left the sites unvaccinated because they refused to take the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“Having gone to a couple of the blitz, I found that a lot more people were getting vaccinated when they started giving the Pfizer, to the point where when the Pfizer ran out, people just turned away,” Jones revealed.

He said what he picked up from the people who turned away was that they believe the Pfizer is safer because it is being given to children, some he said, expressed open bias to the vaccine because it came from America.

Carl Banton, a Junction resident, said since the increase in COVID-19 cases, people are now showing more interest in taking the vaccine, but are exhibiting clear preference towards the Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson.

“Most of them say they will take their chances and wait on these vaccines,” Banton said.

In the meantime, Brissett said the Health Department is trying to stimulate renewed interest by engaging in public education, assisted by town criers.

In addition to the weekend blitz in different areas of the parish, St Elizabeth has six fixed vaccination sites, located in Black River, Junction, Southfield, Santa Cruz, Maggotty and Balaclava.