Travels and COVID/19. Photo: Pexels

Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced that Jamaica will have new vaccine policies after the government completes its public education campaign.

Holness said that Jamaicans are given the choice and opportunity to get vaccinated. However, he hinted that the Government might make the vaccination mandatory for the country to return to normal.

“We will respect people’s rights and the process before we do anything, but we can’t continue like this for much longer; our children must go back to school. They have suffered the most, and so there will come a time when we will have to insist upon persons taking the vaccines.”

Holness also acknowledged that in the past, vaccines saved societies from being destroyed and now, the country is at the point where the virus has impacted the way of life.

“Those who don’t take the vaccine remain the host population for the reproduction and mutation of the virus. The consequence of this is that the people who would have taken the vaccine will face the potential of being infected by a mutated version of the virus for which the original vaccine they took would not be as effective.”

The Prime Minister added that it is unfair for people to want their right not to take the vaccine and move about freely and do as they wish to be respected, while those who are vaccinated endure hardships.

Immunized Jamaicans are encouraged to help share accurate information about the COVID-19 vaccine.

“You are the heroes [and] now I want you to become the ambassadors. Go back into your community, into your households, schools, churches [or] marketplace, and as you talk to your neighbors, encourage them to get vaccinated,” said Prime Minister Andrew Holness

Holness noted that a significant number of persons remain hesitant in relation to getting vaccinated, primarily because of misinformation.

“I have not met upon any hardcore objection to vaccination; what I am really seeing is hesitancy. There’s a certain vulnerability and naivety with the deluge of misinformation, alternative facts, and fake news that people are absorbing, and that is impacting their health-seeking behaviors,” he pointed out.

Prime Minister Holness used the opportunity to dispel some of the myths regarding vaccines.

He emphasized that all citizens have received at least one vaccine in their lifetime, which proved effective against diseases such as measles, smallpox, and poliomyelitis.

“All of you would have had to be vaccinated and almost all of you who are here are still living. Vaccination is not new to Jamaica,” he underscored.

Holness, also reiterated that approximately 95 per cent of persons currently hospitalized are unvaccinated.

Caribbean News Now