Health department seeks to tackle vaccine hesitancy

AS ST THOMAS continues to record the lowest number of residents who are immunised against COVID-19 in Jamaica, the local health department is adapting new ways to tackle vaccine hesitancy in the parish.

So far, according to health officials, only 10.5 per cent of the population in the eastern parish has been fully vaccinated against the virus.

In an effort to raise the numbers, Medical Officer of Health, Dr D’Oyen Smith, shared that the St Thomas Health Department is currently working with the Social Development Committee (SDC) on a community intervention.

“We do recognise that we are hesitant so we are looking to have persons become ambassadors for COVID best practices. We look for some of the communities that have been more hesitant in taking the vaccine or may have a higher number of cases,” he shared, adding that through interventions and partnerships, they hope to bridge the gaps.

These ambassadors, according to Smith, will be trained to lead vaccination sessions in various communities, including Golden Valley, White Hall, Church Corner, Bamboo River and West Albion.

Also chief among the communities for special attention is Rowlandsfield in eastern St Thomas. The small district raised a red flag to stakeholders of the parish after only one resident showed up to be inoculated during a mobile vaccination activity that took place in the area recently.

Admitting that there is some level of hesitancy towards taking the jab in his hometown, Leroy Parker said, “Everybody would have gotten vaccinated if they just got the Cuban vaccine. The problem is that we don’t trust the others. Mi not saying I won’t get vaccinated … I’m in the line but mi round the back moving very slow cause mi nuh really trust them.”

The resident also noted a need for more information on the injections.

“Nobody hasn’t really come to us to explain the thing. They are only on the radio … when we hear radio we just kiss we teeth but if you see us face to face you can give us a conscious reasoning and show us certain things,” he said.

Parker noted that if a health official had visited the community to sensitise members and provide further information on the vaccines, the vaccination drive would have been better supported.

He said, “We would want somebody to come and sit and talk with the community some more, we probably would get more people to come out.”

Seconding Parker’s call for more information, another resident chimed in.

According to him, “Mi nuh take it yet because dem say it a kill people and all kind of things so people get scared. We just want some information on it to know what to expect.”

To date, St Thomas has recorded some 3,820 cases of the virus, 14 of which are active, a marked improvement over the last couple of months.

shanna.monteith@gleanerjm.com