Tufton bats for stronger marketing push as Jamaicans seeking vaccines trickle in
Gavin Riley / Our Today
administrator
Despite reports that some 60,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses are scheduled to expire at midnight, Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton says there is no issue with the distribution process as it stands, and what is required is a robust marketing campaign.
Speaking with Our Today on Thursday (September 30), Minister Tufton explained that Jamaica’s greatest challenge in the fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is vaccine hesitancy.
“I think, however, we [are] seeing signs of hesitancy so it’s more about marketing and communication even while we take vaccines off the main roads,” he explained.
Dr Melody Ennis, Director of Family Health Services in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, encouraged Jamaicans to come out and get their second AstraZeneca jab.
Dr Ennis, speaking on Radio Jamaica, explained that close to 30,000 citizens are seemingly reluctant to get fully vaccinated for a myriad of reasons, even after being repeatedly prompted by the ministry.
“Persons have been called, persons have received their text messages [but] some persons are just not coming out. I mean, you have a few who are not in Jamaica [at this time] and then a few who just refuse to come out,” Dr Ennis lamented.
Others have claimed the soon-to-expire batch of AstraZeneca doses are ‘bad’ and are more than willing to wait for ‘fresher supply’.
“I am not quite sure what is going on with us; we have vaccines, we know the vaccines are safe and effective. We are administering, we have [vaccination] sites across the island and persons are just not coming out as they should,” she said.
Asked what plan was in place for individuals who miss their second dose today, Minister Tufton said, “We open the centres and tell them to come. Hard to go out and find them.”
Tufton told Our Today that the health ministry will advertise and provide information when the brand it is to receive becomes available.
According to the health ministry’s vaccination tracker, 755,782 doses have been administered as at September 29. Of that number, 502,216 jabs are first doses of either AstraZeneca or Pfizer and 226,875 second doses. Another 26,691 jabs are attributed to the single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine.
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