Almost a week after the Ministry of Health and Wellness reported that it would be forced to dump some 60,000 AstraZeneca vaccines that expired as of 11:59 PM on Thursday (September 30), Juliet Holness, Member of Parliament for East Rural St. Andrew, has taken the ministry to task for the poor mobilization of the vaccines which she says resulted in the wastage.

Addressing members of Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee during a sitting held earlier today (October 6), Holness argued, that there has not been sufficient encouragement from the ministry regarding the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson vaccines and this has led to the low take-up of those vaccines.

She stated: “There is no encouragement in my estimation, from my observation to the individuals to justify that AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson was a good vaccine for us.”

She furthered: “If we create the perception that Pfizer is the Clarks of vaccination….how then do we go back to pushing AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson which we know (are equally as effective against the coronavirus). “

Relaying that she had visited and observed many vaccination sites whereby the Pfizer vaccine was the sole vaccine available to citizens, the MP argued that the ministry must take responsibility for the position the country now finds itself where vaccines are being dumped and teens are without their second Pfizer dose.

“The most vulnerable had available 55,000 doses of vaccines that we ended up having to throw away…I think I was less equipped to encourage my constituents to take AstraZeneca or Johnson and Johnson. I think the Ministry of Health is far more equipped than I am to get that message to individuals,” said Holness.