WRHA to clamp down on workers who discourage vaccination

WESTERN BUREAU:

Authorities in western Jamaica have warned that they will be cracking down on healthcare workers who discourage persons from getting vaccinated against COVID-19 while they are on the job.

In an interview with The Gleaner on Tuesday, Dr Delroy Fray, clinical coordinator for the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA), disclosed that there has been only one report so far of a health worker in Westmoreland who has discouraged vaccine take-up. He said the identity of the worker was not revealed.

The Ministry of Health recently revealed that it is investigating reports of public-health workers advising against vaccination.

“It would be sad that our own colleagues, or people who should know better, are discouraging people from vaccination. If that is so, it is going to be a problem, so we need to know,” said Fray.

That concern comes against the backdrop of high levels of vaccine hesitancy and resistance across Jamaica, causing the country to lag behind all of its Caribbean neighbours, except Haiti, in per-capita compliance.

Less than 17 per cent of the Jamaican population has been fully vaccinated, according to the Ministry of Health’s online vaccine tracker as at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

The WRHA coordinator noted that while health workers may have their personal opinions or convictions concerning COVID-19 vaccines, that does not give them the right to negatively sway potential recipients from the jab.

“If a person has religious reasons or whatever other reasons to decide not to take the vaccine, you cannot force them, but I would hope that they do not use that to influence somebody against taking the vaccine, because that would not be proper,” said Fray.

At a recent press conference of the task force established to refine the vaccination campaign, its chairman, Professor Gordon Shirley, said that less than half of the public-health nurses have been inoculated.

Many questionnaires on vaccination status distributed to doctors and nurses under the WRHA’s jurisdiction in September have not be completed. The Gleaner understands that many health professionals have not responded because they believe that the survey is an overreach on their privacy.

The WRHA covers the parishes of St James, Westmoreland, Hanover, and Trelawny.

Disciplinary action to be taken

Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton warned, earlier this week, that disciplinary action would be taken against any health worker found to be engaging in such actions.

The Jamaica Medical Doctors Association subsequently reported that certain categories of health workers have been sowing seeds of doubt among visitors to inoculation sites. However, the specific categories of health workers were not identified.

Last month, the Pan American Health Organization released findings of a survey on vaccine hesitancy that was conducted among 1,200 healthcare workers from March to April.

The survey found that nearly half of the respondents cited the country of manufacture and concerns about the short time taken to develop COVID-19 vaccines as factors driving hesitancy. Approximately one-third of the respondents said they needed more information about the inoculants.

Scientists have dismissed claims about the swiftness of vaccine development as false, saying research goes back nearly two decades.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com