For the most part, over the course of the past weeks, the dominant subject occupying the weekly Government press conferences has been the vaccination against the COVD-19 disease.
In her presentation on Monday, April 19th, the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Aisha Andrewin, expressed that she was delighted with the uptake of the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, as persons who were scheduled to take their second jab were definitely coming forward for the vaccination.
Dr. Andrewin delightfully reported: “We are very happy with the response of those persons who are coming forward for the second dose of the vaccine. We have been met with a lot of enthusiasm shown by a steady stream of people coming in for their second dose. It has been quite a pleasant sight, over the past couple of weeks, to see people who were scheduled for their second jab actually showing up to be immunised.”
Upon the heels of the CMO’s commendation, however, the Hon. Premier, Dr. Ellis Lorenzo Webster, sounded a sombre warning to those who had not yet registered for their first dose: “The first batch of vaccines expires in May,” he observed. “The second batch expires in July. We really want persons to come and get vaccinated. We don’t want these vaccines to expire. Certainly, by July we want to make sure that everyone who is eligible for vaccination is indeed vaccinated.
“We have enough vaccine to fully vaccinate as many as 10,000 people. If we get this many persons vaccinated, then we would be in the region of the targeted 70% for herd immunity. If we reach that level, then we can get more vaccine doses from the UK — as has been promised — for the rest of the population who might wish to be immunised. However, if we don’t reach that 10,000 level, there is no guarantee that we can get any more. This is the message we are trying to send out. So come and get vaccinated. Come and be immune so that you can protect your own health and protect the health of the community.”
Asked about how aggressive government has been in propagating the importance of the vaccine, the Premier emphasised: “Since December of last year, the Parliamentary Secretary and her team initiated efforts in communicating with various groups about the vaccine. Communication about the importance of the vaccine was carried out via radio, social media, and meetings with pastors and church members.
“The vaccination deployment programme started at the hospital where parliamentarians, members of the opposition, and government officials went to get their first dose on the first day after the vaccine’s arrival. Influential persons from the community were there, and the vaccination event was broadcast on the radio and on social media, as well as on Channel 4. Since then, with help from Digicel, we have set up mobile units to go out and vaccinate people in the community. We have also administered the vaccine to immobile persons at the homes. So I think we have been conducting quite an aggressive vaccination programme.”
The Premier stressed that so far government has been quite aggressive with the rollout of the vaccine. He said that a rigorous communication plan had been designed, and implemented, to inform people about the availability of the vaccine — and its importance for the protection of the health of everyone against the potential threat or the possibility of COVID-19 community spread.
“Yet, there is a certain cross section of the population,” he observed, “especially hospitality workers, and those younger people ages 18 to 34, who are resisting taking the vaccine. Here we are trying to get to the point where we can help ourselves and people are resisting that. So, we feel it is necessary to be a bit more aggressive, and that is why we say that hospitality workers should at least have the first dose by May 1st. Also, frontline employees such as immigration, customs, post office workers and all those in healthcare capacities and receptionists at government offices — they all need to be vaccinated as long as they are eligible.”
“Once you are eligible — eighteen and older — we want to encourage you to get vaccinated,” the Premier admonished. “There is a finite line drawn between helping ourselves to maintain our health and maintaining the community and the economy. And certainly, I have no apologies about mandating vaccinations so that we all can help ourselves and our economy, and keep our communities safe.”
– Staff Reporter, James R. Harrigan
