DIRECTOR of the National Transformation Programme (NTP) Reverend Al Miller is warning Jamaicans against what he says amounts to “volunteering our children” for inoculation against the SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, even as the Government yesterday entered day two of a drive to vaccinate children 12 to 18.

The Jamaican Government on August 12 announced that children 12 years and older will be prioritised for the first batch of approximately 200,000 Pfizer vaccines which arrived in the island five days later. The delivery marked the first of three tranches of a total 600,000 doses gifted to the country by the US Government.

Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton, emphasising that the Pfizer jabs are safe for use in children and adolescents, said the move was in furthering the considerations for the resumption of face-to-face schooling in September and also to ensure that children slated for final exams are able to return to classes. The vaccination blitz for children will conclude on August 24.

But Reverend Miller, in a recent statement, a copy of which was sent to the Jamaica Observer, called for “deeper analysis”.

“I am mindful that our leaders are under intense international pressure, bound by some unwise treaties and conventions signed,” Reverend Miller said.

“Allow experiments on adults only. Do not volunteer our children for experiments just because it’s internationally requested or required, because we are bound by an international agreement,” he stated further while calling on the authorities to say the possible long- and short-term effects of the jabs on children.

Speaking with the Observer yesterday, Reverend Miller said, “We need more information, because this is the children’s future, and we keep talking about these vaccines, but these vaccines cannot be compared to rubella [shots] and all the others. Children are a whole different ball game from adults. Adults can make their choices; we make choices for them, so we have to be 10 times as careful of how we affect their future.

“We don’t have enough information, these things have not been proven. At the beginning they told us this would solve the problem, but then now they are agreeing that this is in the experimental phase. If it is experimental then it cannot be forced.

“So, therefore, give full information and let those who want to be part of the experiment choose to do so; you cannot make participation in an experiment compulsory and certainly don’t volunteer our children into the experimental phase, worst when it is not absolutely necessary because there are alternative protocols,” he added.

The National Transformation Programme, known as Fresh Start Jamaica, is a civil society-led, value-based, socio-economic programme with the State as a major partner, along with the Church and the private sector.

The clergyman’s assessment did not go down well with professor of public health, epidemiology and HIV/AIDS at The University of the West Indies Dr Peter Figueroa.

“There is no basis for what the Reverend Al Miller has said. The Pfizer vaccine has been given to hundreds of millions of people and we have a pretty good idea of any of the rare adverse effects, and it is proven to be a very safe and effective vaccine in preventing COVID, especially severe COVID. With the Delta variant we are seeing that the virus is more readily transmitted and is creating a massive surge in cases of COVID in Jamaica, and we are also seeing that many more younger adults, teenagers and children are being affected by the Delta variant, and it is causing COVID in a wide cross section of ages,” Professor Figueroa said.

“If we are going to try and get the children back to school after not being able to do face-to-face [classes] for over 18 months, then it makes sense to get the children vaccinated, especially those who have exams, they need to get back to school and benefit from the education and be protected.

“We know that young adults and teenagers, even though they do not get very ill with the virus causing COVID, they can transmit it to their parents, their grandparents, their friends, and others, so they do play a role in the transmission and contributing to the surge, so it makes perfect sense to get them vaccinated,” he added.

Professor Figueroa argued, too, that clinical trials involving children have shown that both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines are safe and effective.

“I can’t understand the basis for Reverend Miller’s questioning of giving the vaccines, and it’s really good to see that many of the church leaders have come out and explicitly stated their support for the vaccination programme, which is our best hope to really control COVID and restore some semblance of normality,” the public health expert stated.

Meanwhile, consultant paediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist Dr Abigail Harrison yesterday threw her support behind the vaccination programme for children.

“Vaccinations and immunisations really form a large part of what we do as paediatricians, because our primary goal is to ensure and maintain the health of our children, so vaccination is really part and parcel of what we do everyday. And so, for us, this is nothing really very new, except for the fact that COVID-19 itself is a little bit new; it is a new spin on older infections like the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and the MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome), both caused by coronaviruses,” she pointed out.

Asked whether she had any concerns about the jabs, she said: “As a paediatrician, I trust the science, and so I think that this is one part of our armamentarium [medicines, equipment, and techniques available to a medical practitioners] that parents and children and adolescents can use to protect themselves in addition to all of the other public health measures which we strongly recommend,before and after you get the vaccines.”

According to Dr Harrison, who has also served as president of the Paediatric Association of Jamaica, her support goes beyond the concerns about learning loss.

“My support is not based on return to face-to-face learning only, I think it’s just a good idea to protect us. We know it may not protect us fully, no vaccine protects us fully, but we know it is one of the best options to protect us from severe illness, and therefore from hospitalisation, and I think that’s really what we need to look at, especially in this time when our hospitals are full,” she told the Observer.

According to data from the Ministry of Health yesterday, there were 551 new coronavirus infections the day prior. Individuals testing positive ranged in age from nine days to 101 years. The parishes with the bulk of the new cases were Kingston and St Andrew, which accounted for 115 cases; Manchester, 57; St Ann, 88; St Catherine, 91; and St James with 73. The positivity rate, the ministry said, was 44.1 per cent, while there were 17 new deaths. The deaths, the ministry said, occurred between August 16 and August 20.

On Friday, there had been 794 new cases and 15 deaths, which the ministry said occurred between August 16 and August 19. The positivity rate then was 43.8 per cent.