Another giant of the Jamaican industry has made his strong support of the COVID-19 vaccine programme public.

Managing director of J Wray & Nephew Ltd, and chairman of J Wray & Nephew Foundation, Jean Philippe Beyer, has fully endorsed the Government’s efforts at getting as many Jamaicans to be vaccinated against the coronavirus that is principally responsible for wiping out over two million lives around the world, and devastated growth in all economies.

Beyer, referred to as JP, remains firm in his view that the people of Jamaica should protect themselves from COVID-19 by taking the vaccine, any branded vaccine.

“I support the vaccination process 100 per cent,” JP said in a video interview with the Jamaica Observer last midweek. “I think it’s very important. I was on a call with the PSOJ (Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica) yesterday (last Tuesday) with a great number of the big businesses in Jamaica to see how we can support and help.

“Their notion is that 25 per cent of the population is anti-vaccine. I think it’s important for the population to understand that it’s safe. Some of them are saying, ‘Oh, I want to wait for a year to see what happens, to see if something bad happens.’

“We have educational programmes on the vaccine that we want to share with people. Of course, you can’t force people to do what they don’t want to do, but they do need to understand that not doing it puts their lives and the lives of others in jeopardy.

“When you see famous people encouraging the use of the vaccine, because they feel it’s safe, and they back it up with a lot of scientific study, and the different government departments around the world endorsing it, that’s good,” Beyer said.

Jamaica rolled out its COVID-19 vaccination programme last Wednesday, with almost 3,000 getting jabs on the first day.

The vaccines were made possible by a 50,000-unit donation from the Government of India.

– HG Helps