ISSA urges vaccine take-up

KEITH WELLINGTON, president of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA), said he will be lobbying the principals to encourage their students to take the COVID-19 vaccine to allow for a safe return of high school sports in Jamaica.

ISSA, which is the governing body for high school sports in Jamaica, was forced to abandon all competitions in 2020 because of the outbreak of the virus in the country. According to figured released by the Ministry of Health and Wellness yesterday, Jamaica has so far recorded 1,320 deaths related to the respiratory illness and 59,088 coronavirus cases overall. The figures pointed to 9,858 active cases.

Wellington told The Gleaner that his organisation will be working very closely with all stakeholders on this matter as they plan to start the Manning and daCosta Cup competitions in October.

“I am encouraging the principals to encourage their student athletes to take the vaccine,” said Wellington.

“There will be vaccines available for persons who are over 14 years old and so we expect that players can get the vaccine as well,” he said.

Wellington, who is the principal of St Elizabeth Technical High School, pointed out that it is very expensive for ISSA to pay to test every player taking part in schoolboy competitions this season and, therefore, if everyone takes the vaccine, then it will make for a much safer environment.

“We have started having some discussions with my institution and we are hoping that over the next couple of weeks we will be able to see some fruits of those discussions,” he said.

“Right now, testing wouldn’t be affordable and so vaccinations is what we are hoping to have because everybody can get the vaccine free, and if everybody is vaccinated then we don’t have to worry about the hospitalisation and the level of illness, and so vaccination is what we are promoting,” Wellington said.

PFIZER VACCINE

In the meantime, renowned physician, Dr Akshai Mansingh, has sided with Wellington, saying that the Pfizer vaccine has proven to be safe for kids above the age of 12 years.

“The Pfizer vaccine is approved for anybody above the age of 12 and this is why the prime minister (Andrew Holness) said that the Pfizer vaccine that we are going to get is going to be prioritised for schoolchildren,” said Dr Mansingh.

“It has been approved for children for over six months now and it has been given to children all over the world. There have been millions of kids who have gotten it already and there have been no major side effects,” he continued.

“I think ISSA is doing the right thing because I think the children are going to be the main transmitters of the disease, and so you want to make sure that they are safe,” Dr Mansingh reasoned, noting that the number of Pfizer vaccines that Jamaica is expected to receive should be enough for the entire school population.

“Remember that the Delta variant that we have affects the younger population and the vaccine (Pfizer) so far has been covering Delta,” Dr Mansingh stated.