Prime Minister Andrew Holness is urging Jamaicans not to be fooled by persons with various agendas who publicly encourage them not to take the COVID-19 vaccine while they themselves secretly take the jab, especially in circumstances where they have to travel abroad.
“The greatest irony is that some of the very persons who are preaching against the vaccines, they have gone quietly and privately and they have gotten vaccinated.
“And you will know by their travels, you will easily know it,” said Holness as he addressed the House of Representatives on Tuesday regarding updated COVID-19 protocols.
The prime minister’s comment about persons secretly taking the vaccine appeared to be a swipe at some prominent entertainers who have openly spoken against the vaccine. However, more and more countries are requiring that visitors are vaccinated before entry is granted. That requirement for travel, including to the United States where many Jamaican entertainers perform, will require all persons entering the North American country to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of November 8.
Holness is urging Jamaicans not to be victims of the falsehoods that are being spread.
“Everybody has a right to express their views but the same people who cry freedom of choice, operate in such a way as to take away the freedom of choice for those who would have ordinarily taken the vaccine by spewing untruths, propagating myths and propaganda, and just outright lies about the vaccines,” he remarked.
“The unsuspecting, the gullible, the uninformed, may just take it up,” he said.“And in a low trust society what else can we expect?”
The prime minister noted that all the COVID-19 vaccines being administered in Jamaica have proven to be highly effective against serious illness and death.
He noted further that nearly seven billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered globally with over two billion doses being administered in China alone and more than one billion doses in India.
With over 900,000 doses already administered in Jamaica despite a major falloff in take-up since September, and with 190,000 doses of the AstraZeneca brand set to expire at the end of the month, Holness asked: “What more are you waiting on to see?”
He pointed out that over 98 percent of the more than 2,000 people who have died from COVID-19 in Jamaica were unvaccinated. And 99 percent of those who have been hospitalized as a result of the respiratory virus did not take the vaccine.
“The evidence is clear, I urge all Jamaicans, put your fear aside, skepticism is healthy but, if you get COVID-19 you may not recover,” Holness warned.
“We want to go back to party again and we want to see ‘wi friend pass 10,” he said referencing the fact that Jamaicans are subjected to a nightly curfew that requires persons to be off the road by 8:00pm.
