A week ago, we told the Government that in between planning for the logistical roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccine, it had to engage in a robust campaign to convince Jamaicans of the efficacy and safety of the drug. For the epidemiologists and other health professionals preparing for the event are challenged, not only by the understandable fear many people have for a new product, but also an array of conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers with dubious claims about the safety of the vaccine and the motives behind its development.
That advice is worth repeating and must be taken to heart by the administration. A report by this newspaper on Monday made that clear. Even doctors and nurses, as well as non-medical frontline staff at health institutions, are sceptical about taking the vaccine when one becomes available to Jamaicans. That will be some time in the first quarter of next year.
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A week ago, we told the Government that in-between planning for the logistical roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine, it had to engage in a robust campaign to convince Jamaicans of the efficacy and safety of the drug. For the epidemiologists and other health professionals preparing for the event are challenged, not only by the understandable fear many people have for a new product, but also an array of conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers with dubious claims about the safety of the vaccine and the motives behind its development.
That advice is worth repeating and must be taken to heart by the administration. A report by this newspaper on Monday made that clear. Even doctors and nurses, as well as non-medical front-line staff at health institutions, are sceptical about taking the vaccine when one becomes available to Jamaicans. That will be some time in the first quarter of next year.
3:11 pm, Tue December 15, 2020
NAJ President Patsy Edwards Henry and MAJ President Dr. Andrew Manning
The Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ) is defending the stance taken by some of its members to not be among the first Jamaicans to get the COVID-19 vaccine next year.
The Ministry of Health has said frontline staff will be included in the priority groups to be inoculated.
However, she says the hesitancy by some nurses is due to fear about the safety of the vaccine.
It has been said over and over and over that trials for vaccines and any other medications usually take years, They usually try it on rabbits, on rats, on guinea pigs, and these trials have gone pretty fast and they went directly to human trials. So we re not averse to having the injection, the vaccine. It s just that, coming from a society where we are sometimes overly cautious, we have persons on the frontline who may be fearful, she explained.
As the Holness administration fine-tunes plans for the roll-out of the coronavirus vaccine in April 2021, it is emerging that the Ministry of Health and Wellness might be facing anti-vaxxer pushback from front-line staff who are one of the key groups first to be inoculated.
Front-line staff might complicate what could be a logistical nightmare for the Government as doctors, nurses, porters, guards, and others in the hospital and health centre network interact with patients and present the greatest threat as transmitters or victims of viral outbreak.
The cool reception to the vaccine is not unique to Jamaica as suspicion and fear have been reported in developed countries that are much further ahead with the despatch of what could be a game-changer exactly one year after COVID-19 emerged in China.