PM Makes Special Appeal to Persons Residing in Inner City and Rural Areas to Take COVID-19 Vaccine

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, has made a special appeal for persons residing in inner city and rural areas to get vaccinated against the coronavirus (COVID-19) as soon as it is available to them.

He made the appeal against the background that persons in these areas may not have access to correct information, especially as it relates to vaccination.

“Persons who live in inner city areas or in rural areas, do not always have the information and don’t always have first-hand access to their doctors and practitioners to give them the advice…and they would also get access to perverse information – information saying don’t take this vaccine…I know that kind of information is being circulated widely in our country,” he said, while addressing a virtual Town Hall meeting on vaccination which he hosted from Jamaica House on Friday (March 19).

Mr. Holness further lamented that people who are opinion leaders, people who are influential in various areas – whether it is church, music or entertainment, “are sometimes messengers of perverse information and so they (inner city and rural area residents) don’t have context within which to understand why they should take the vaccine.”

The Prime Minister implored opinion leaders to instead use their influence to encourage persons to adhere to the infection prevention and control measures, and to get vaccinated.

“We all have to be committed to taking the vaccine. I again appeal to those persons who have the public’s ear and trust, to use your influence in the right way to get people on board with the infection prevention and control measures and get vaccinated. We must exercise a great deal of responsibility for our destiny as a people, and that is how we will, together as one family, recover stronger, better, faster, fairer, and more sustainably,” he said.

In the meantime, the Prime Minister said he is also concerned that that the people “who are clamouring to take the vaccine and who are turning up in large numbers” at the vaccination centres, are from the “higher income” category of society.

He noted that this is due to the fact that “they do more research, they have more access to information and many of them speak to their doctors directly and so they get advice”.

“During this period of short supply (of vaccines), what will happen is that a certain section of the society will get vaccinated and they will be able to go back and move around without having that high risk of infection, while people who are poorer may very well still maintain a high risk of infection,” he said.

The Prime Minister noted that this is one of the reasons he hosted the Town Hall meeting “to reach out to persons who are in our rural communities, in our inner-city communities, that you need to get vaccinated. We want to see you turn up at the vaccination centres according to the published priority lists.”

Jamaica commenced its COVID-19 vaccination programme on March 10. So far, about 17,000 persons have been inoculated. These include health care workers, members of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) and the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and members of some vulnerable groups.