Tufton urges continued take-up of COVID-19 vaccines
KINGSTON, Jamaica— Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton, is imploring Jamaicans to continue to take the COVID-19 vaccines as the pandemic remains a threat.
“The COVID 19 pandemic is still very much here. It must be worrying to all concerned that we are seeing a re-emergence of infection rates, hospitalisations and deaths (around the world),” he said.
Dr Tufton was addressing the launch of Canada’s Global Initiative for Vaccine Equity (CanGIVE) at the International Seabed Authority in Kingston on January 13.
Under CanGIVE, Canada is providing CA$45 million (J$5.1 billion) to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in support of COVID-19 response efforts in the Caribbean and Latin America.
Almost a third of the funds will support national interventions in Colombia, Haiti and Jamaica. It adds to the prior contribution of CA$50 million (close to (J$5.6 billion) made in May 2021.
CanGIVE will support efforts to increase COVID-19 vaccinations by addressing barriers to access for people in vulnerable situations.
Dr Tufton welcomed the collaboration between Canada and PAHO, from which Jamaica will benefit to “strengthen our routine immunisation programme and the primary healthcare system”.
He said that the experience of COVID-19 “has taught us that…. we are fighting against not just a virus but either ignorance of the importance of immunisation or downright resistance, because of a lack of understanding or otherwise, of how critical that is to human development”.
Locally, he noted that even with the easily accessible vaccine sites, “we have still been struggling here in Jamaica” with coverage at about 27 per cent.
“That’s way below what we would want, and clearly, the implications of that are worrying not just for COVID but generally for immunisation. It does need significant analysis,” he said.
Dr Tufton argued that there is need to strengthen collaboration with the international partners to understand why this resistance exists, “whether it is a situation of education… or it’s because we need to be more vocal in promoting immunisation, because the voice of the anti-vaxxer has gotten louder with alternative media”.
