Rastafarian lines up to take jab

Haunted by memories of her three-year-old daughter’s near-death experience from failing to get the diphtheria vaccine, Rastafarian Yvonne Hope intends to depart from the anti-vaccination stance of her religious community.

The Rastafarian veteran plans to take the COVID-19 vaccine as the Government rolls out its programme aimed at inoculating 65 per cent of Jamaica’s three million citizens by March next year.

A mother of two, Hope had converted to Rastafarianism more than 47 years ago and relies on the earth for her food and her medicine in keeping with her faith. She had, however, fulfilled the mandatory requirement to immunise her two daughters as children, but refused to have one of her daughters receive the vaccine for diphtheria, which in the 1920s had been a common cause of both illness and death.

“It was partially intentional because you say that you don’t trust ‘Babylon’ system and then we suffer from not giving her the vaccine, because it could have killed her and it could cause long-term complications,” she said.

The Government intends to vaccinate more than 174,000 elderly citizens in the first phase of the country’s vaccination plan in an effort to curtail mortality among the older members of society, as well as to reduce the spread of the virus which, to date, has claimed more than 500 lives, ravaged the tourism-dependent economy and has left the health sector on life support.

Distrustful of AstraZeneca

Hope, a great-grandmother, was diagnosed with cancer seven years ago and fearing that she is among the most vulnerable to contract COVID-19, she is prepared to defy the advice of some of her friends and take the jab, although she is particularly distrustful of the AstraZeneca brand which is being given locally. She hopes vaccines from Cuba will become available soon.

Buoyed by the black-conscious movement fuelled by Marcus Garvey in the 1920s, Hope and a few other females got deeply involved in the Rastafarian culture when it was mostly male-dominated. She was 19 years old at the time and locked her hair, became a vegan, migrated to live in the hills with others who shared her faith, and became very distrustful of government officials.

Researcher and author Dr Imani Tafari Ama estimates that there are more than 30,000 Rastafarians in Jamaica, although there has never been an official roll call. Many adherents believe in the divinity of Haile Selassie, the emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974, in keeping with Garvey’s prophecy that a black king would be crowned in Africa, and that he would signal their redemption.

“The Rastafarian community emerged from this politics, of affirming that we don’t want to be worshipping a white king and a white Jesus, given that we are created in the image of God,” said Ama, who became a Rastafarian in the 1980s while studying at The University of the West Indies, where she now lectures.

Adherents include the late musical icon Bob Marley, and are generally against anything that is unnatural, including vaccines. They are also suspicious of organisations like the World Health Organization (WHO), due to what they perceive as years of medical injustice against the black community.

“Long-time Rastas would say that a lot of these vaccines were introduced to kill our black people, and when Rastas say that, they are talking about the racialisation of public health that the African community in the diaspora has experienced,” she said, in reference to the Tuskegee syphilis experiment which was conducted on a group of African-American men who were denied treatment for syphilis four decades ago.

For many Rastafarians, the antidote to COVID-19 is building the immune system by going “ital” or only consuming food from the earth. “I am sure there are alternative medicines we can use to counteract it, so we are exploring the possibilities of using our alternative medicine that we know and there are medical experts, too, in conventional areas who are vegans like us who are looking at the same alternative medicine that came from plants and herbs and these things,” said former public relations officer for The Nyahbinghi Order of Rastafari, Donovan Wright.

Wright, who goes by the moniker Ras IVI-Tafari, said only one of his eight children has been vaccinated and she has since been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He presented no evidence that directly linked the vaccine to the diagnosis. However, he said that she was forcefully immunised by a teacher at the early childhood institution she was attending at the time.

Rebel vocal

Reggae superstar Patrick Barrett, who goes by the stage name Tony Rebel, doesn’t mask his suspicion of vaccines, but he respects the wishes of those in the faith who choose to accept the jab. “Me is not an anti-vaccine person because of COVID-19 and what is happening now, a long time me stay so,” he declared.

He was vaccinated against polio and received the BCG at birth, but since converting to Rastafarianism as a teen, he has been vocal about his anti-vaccine stance.

“Why don’t we try to get back to the Rastafarian teaching of being plant-based eaters, of using herbs as your medicine, let your food be your medicine and your medicine your food. Let us work on the immune system, the immune system can be worked on,” he suggested.

Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton has publicly expressed concern about the strength of the anti-vaxxer movement in the country, and its potential to derail efforts to achieve the desired 65 per cent herd immunity. The COVID-19 vaccine is not mandatory.

“To the extent that we have small groups in the society that have an alternative opinion, we will reason with them, we will talk to them, we will respect their wishes at the end of the day and so I am not worried about that too much as of now,” he said.

“If there is an individual by virtue of religion, for example, that is not convinced that vaccines work for them, then it is hard to convince and overcome that objection and since it is optional, then they have the option not to take it,” the health official noted.

Hope said she has come across several other Rastafarians who are diverting from the traditional stance. “For me personally, it is also a mixed feeling, but if I have to take it, I will take it,” she insisted.