Tufton takes jab

After loud calls from some quarters for key government officials to lead by example and to take the AstraZeneca vaccine, Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton yesterday took the jab at the Spanish Town Hospital in St Catherine.

Tufton had previously said that he and Prime Minister Andrew Holness would wait until April before being inoculated in order to give the elderly and frontline workers first priority.

“It is much as what we see as to what we do. Frontline workers are vulnerable and in my instance, I am much a frontline worker as anybody else. I am out in the field. The truth is all elected officials go out in the field and provide leadership on the ground, so we are all exposed,” Tufton said.

“But I think it is important to demonstrate some priorities and that’s what we have done. It is my time and I am here taking the vaccine to show that it is safe and it is important, and hopefully by doing so, we will encourage others to do the same,” the minister added.

Responding to the question of whether taking the jab would build public confidence in the vaccine, Tufton said it was a wait-and-see process.

“I am not going to assess my own influence because I don’t think it is something for me to do. But I do believe that as part of the leadership of the country and the standard- bearer for public health, it is important that we demonstrate our commitment to the process that we are asking the country to buy into,” he added.

Tufton encouraged Jamaicans to take the vaccine, pointing to the long history of immunisation in Jamaica that protected the population against diseases.