KINGSTON, Jamaica— The Ministry of Health and Wellness is encouraging individuals who have taken the COVID-19 vaccine to continue observing all the health protocols.

According to Director of Family Health Services in the Ministry, Dr Melody Ennis, when individuals have taken the two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine they are protected from severe illness, hospitalisation and death, but they can pass on the virus to others who are yet to be vaccinated.

“The quicker we all get vaccinated, the quicker we can get back to normal,” Dr Ennis said, while addressing a virtual media sensitisation session by ministry officials on April 13.

She said that regular handwashing, wearing of masks and physical distancing need to be followed by persons who are vaccinated.

For people who have contracted the disease and believe that they cannot get it a second time, the director said it is a “myth”, because several persons have been getting the virus a second time, and “natural immunity wanes over time”.

She noted that people are being reinfected because their “immunity was not sustained”, emphasising that it is important that such individuals get vaccinated.

Dr Ennis said that where people develop allergic reactions to the vaccine, the second dose will not be offered to them.

Addressing concerns about the vaccine affecting women’s fertility, she said the trials have not established any correlation or link with infertility, and that many women have “become pregnant and having bouncing babies”.

Dr Ennis said there should not be any concern of contracting the virus from taking the vaccine, and that this “kind of myth is redundant”, adding that people with illnesses such as obesity, hypertension, HIV and respiratory diseases need to take the vaccine, as they are the ones affected severely when they contract COVID-19.