Opposition calls for better arrangements at vaccination blitz sites
Published:Sunday | August 22, 2021 | 10:41 AM
Opposition Spokesperson on Health and Wellness Dr Morais Guy is calling for arrangements to be put in place to facilitate persons who need the AstraZeneca COVID-19 shot.
Guy says a number of the vaccination sites did not function properly yesterday as there was no supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine for persons accompanying children to get the Pfizer vaccine.
The health ministry is hosting a four-day blitz, which started yesterday, to administer the Pfizer shot to children 12 and older and to their parents or guardians.
Commenting on yesterday's blitz, Guy said adults were turned back at several locations as only the Pfizer vaccines were available and no arrangement was in place for adults needing the AstraZeneca shot.
“Adults who took their children to be vaccinated were expected to make a second trip to the centres for their own vaccination. That is simply poor planning,” argued the opposition health spokesperson.
In a statement this morning, Guy called for the Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton, to immediately correct the situation and ensure that all adults, particularly the elderly, going to the blitz sites can receive jabs today, tomorrow, and Tuesday.
He said the poor arrangements can only serve to increase vaccine hesitancy.
Guy argued that denial of vaccines to the adult population will affect the uptake in the future and thwart Jamaica's herd immunity objective down the road.
The opposition spokesman said it was not difficult to ensure that centres are supplied with both vaccines and the health minister and the Ministry should move expeditiously to ensure that this is in place for the remainder of the children's vaccination programme
This, he said, could be achieved by assigning different teams to administer the adult vaccinations at locations across Jamaica.
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