News that more than 21,000 Jamaicans were vaccinated on Tuesday is most encouraging as it signals some amount of acceptance among the populace of the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines.

According to the Ministry of Health and Wellness, the turnout at vaccination centres on Tuesday represents a record for the highest number of Jamaicans vaccinated in one day since the COVID-19 vaccination programme began in March.

The ministry also told us that approximately 40 per cent of those vaccinated on Tuesday were children between 12 years old and 18 years old, and the remainder were adults over 18 years.

We are indeed heartened that so many parents and their children have seen the benefit of the vaccine and have not fallen prey to the nonsense and misinformation about the vaccines being prattled by charlatans like the Rev Al Miller.

As we have stated before, it is most unfortunate that the current Information Age, despite all its benefits, gives extensive reach to those who one doctor so correctly labelled “WhatsApp university-certified specialists” to feed the many fickle-minded among us.

This challenge will be with us for a long time; therefore, all well-thinking Jamaicans, and especially us in media, must consider it our duty to continue to counter their mischief with credible information.

The people who are bent on sowing doubt about the efficacy of vaccines are quick to point to side effects, and have even gone beyond to twaddle that the State is somehow experimenting on children. Utter hogwash!

What they conveniently ignore is the fact that every medicine, including some of your everyday painkillers and antibiotics, have possible side effects, some of which can be very damaging.

It bears repeating that anyone who has ever undergone surgery would have been advised by doctors about the possible complications of anaesthesia.

So the anti-vaccine declarations making the rounds on social media and on the Internet are simply scare tactics designed to sway public opinion from the reality that vaccination is an effective way to prevent disease and save lives.

Immunisation has been a key component of primary health care for decades. There’s hardly a Jamaican parent who hasn’t had their child(ren) inoculated against a number of diseases to which babies are susceptible.

Human beings have benefited from vaccines for more than two centuries. Any medical professional who is not a stranger to the truth will confirm that.

The World Health Organization (WHO) tells us that the range of vaccines now available to mankind prevent more than 20 life-threatening diseases, among them diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, influenza, polio, and measles, saving the lives of up to three million people every year.

Vaccines train and prepare the body’s immune system to recognise and fight off viruses and bacteria. After vaccination, if the body is later exposed to those disease-causing viruses, the body is immediately ready to destroy them, preventing illness. That is the case with the COVID-19 vaccine, which is the result of centuries of incremental work that have turned vaccination from a crude and often risky practice to a highly refined science.

We reiterate our firm endorsement of the COVID-19 vaccine and urge our fellow Jamaicans who have not yet done so, to get vaccinated. It is the only viable solution on the immediate horizon to end the pandemic and return life to normal.