Excerpt from the Jamaica Observer column published Monday, May 31, 2021
By Jean Lowrie-Chin
Jamaicans are being swayed by the ignorance being forwarded on WhatsApp and even by some unenlightened pastors. Doctors have been spending a good amount of their time trying to convince their long-time patients that the COVID-19 vaccine is important to protect health. Director of Family Health Services in the Ministry of Health and Wellness Dr Melody Ennis has appealed to those who are due their second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine to ensure that they keep the date. We need to count our blessings; there are Haitians anxious to receive the vaccine and here we are being urged to take what is available.
Another challenge is that elderly folks in rural areas who qualify for the vaccine are having mobility and transportation issues. Senior’s organisation Caribbean Community of Retired Persons (CCRP) has been appealing to Members of Parliament to assist such individuals as they do on election day.
“Look at it this way,” advised CCRP board director and family physician Dr Owen James, “if you offer me a birthday cake but tell me that it is at Blue Mountain peak, I would be unlikely to get it and benefit from it unless I got some help to access it! And so it is with the vaccine; it may be at particular location, but without help I still can’t get this desired and essential medication.”
Dr James continued: “I urge Jamaica’s seniors to get vaccinated. COVID is particularly dangerous for vulnerable persons; for example, those with chronic medical conditions. Do not delay, get vaccinated, rather than get COVID! The life you save will be your own, and that of others.”
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