By: Staff Writer
October 8, 2021
The Jamaican Ministry of Health is under heavy fire for his failure to secure a proper vaccine mandate for the country.
None other than Prime Minister Andrew Holness’s wife, Juliet Holness, has come out slamming top ministry of health (MOH) officials and their failure to properly roll out a vaccination programme.
Ms Holness, also the Member of Parliament for East Rural St Andrew, reported by the Nationwide Radio Jamaica, was incensed when it was revealed that only 34,000 children have been fully vaccinated and 81,000 in total have been reached from the 208,000 doses of Pfizer stock.
Ms Holness made her comments known during the Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee on Monday when the MOH Permanent Secretary Dunstan Bryan faced questions from the committee on the ministry’s handling of the vaccination programme in the country.
Mrs. Holness criticized the MOH for breaching Government policy and allowing the first batch of Pfizer vaccines to arrive in Jamaica to be distributed to adults instead of children.
Mrs. Holness chided health officials for what she noted is deviating from Government of Jamaica policy and administering the Pfizer doses to adults as well.
It is also being reported that the Minister of Health, Christopher Tufton, is also at odds with his cabinet colleagues and primarily Prime Minister Holness on the failure of the vaccination programme.
Dr Tufton and his ministry have gone on record defending their lack of movement on a vaccination programme for the country, citing that several of the recommendations coming from the cabinet goes against World Health Organisation (WHO) protocols and guidelines for vaccination mandates.
There is no mandatory vaccination in Jamaica at this time, but as vaccination hesitancy seeps into the country, still reeling from a disastrous August where the country saw a record high 1,430 cases in one day on August 23 and averaged over 600 cased for the month in a country with just under 3m people, something must be done.
WHO’s primary vaccine mandate policy has been that “mandatory vaccination should be considered only if it is necessary for, and proportionate to, the achievement of an important public health goal (including socioeconomic goals) identified by a legitimate public health authority. If such a public health goal (e.g., herd immunity, protecting the most vulnerable, protecting the capacity of the acute health care system) can be achieved with less coercive or intrusive policy interventions (e.g., public education), a mandate would not be ethically justified, as achieving public health goals with less restriction of individual liberty and autonomy yields a more favourable risk-benefit ratio.”
The WHO vaccine mandate also advises that there should be sufficiently safe vaccines available to vaccinate people and that no country should make mandatory vaccination a priority when the availability of safe vaccines are not present. Also there should be ample supply of vaccines in order to ensure that everyone who wants it should be able to get the full dosage.
The WHO also advises that the public trust on a vaccination mandate should be of the utmost importance and transparency in decision making should be first and foremost.
Under which of these WHO policy guideline breaches does the cabinet of Jamaica fall under is not know at this time as MOH officials have been unclear as to what WHO policies would the cabinet be contrary to? But it must be something that has the MOH scared to even attempt whatever the cabinet of Jamaica has up their sleeve.
While the chasm widens between Dr Tufton and Prime Minister Holness, Ms Holness is also getting support from the private sector against the MOH.
Adam Stewart, Chairman of the Sandals International Resort Group, came out in support of Ms Holness attacks against MOH officials. Stewart in a tweet on his official twitter account said, “Real Talk Lady Holness, Real Talk.”
Questions should now be asked if whether or not Prime Minister Holness is hiding behind the skirt of his wife, attacking his cabinet colleagues through her and is this a sign of more to come from the Holness administration.
Without a doubt, regardless of what the WHO says, they can only advise and it is the Jamaican cabinet that has the last say on how the vaccination programme should be rolled out. It may best for Dr Tufton to simply just follow cabinet advice on this one, but the WHO is there for a reason and their guidelines should be observed to say the very least.
Dr Tufton has to make a decision. He has the entire cabinet at a crossroad now. If a cabinet decision was made, then without a doubt Dr Tufton has to carry out a cabinet conclusion on the matter.
Dr Tufton has to now get tough, which may not be in his character as he is a soft spoken and social media darling who has advocated for healthier living and proper exercise as a way to remain healthy. His social media is littered with videos of his daily exercise routine, encouraging Jamaicans to stay healthy.