Mandating COVID-19 vaccination a last resort - PM

 

Prime Minister Andrew Holness says the government will exhaust all avenues for getting Jamaicans vaccinated against COVID-19 before instituting any mandates around the issue.

 

Mr. Holness says, should the government force citizens to take the vaccine, it would have to be able to prove that such a move was a last resort. 

 

"I am of the view that the current health situation does give strong justification that we should give a directive for vaccination to be taken. But our constitution and the spirit of our constitution and our laws also require us to have a period of public education where the citizen is engaged. In other words, we would have to demonstrate that we have gone through all remedies but that we have done everything else other than a mandate to get people to vaccinate, so that we're not just jumping over the rights of the people without them being properly informed as to why it is being done," he explained. 

 

Mr. Holness also insisted that vaccine hesitancy among Jamaicans is not as high as being suggested.

 

"If you listen to what is being said in the media sometimes and on social media, it can paint a picture of hopelessness, of negativity, and that there is such widescale objection - quite a different thing when you get on the ground and speak to people. The loudest voices don't always have the microphone," said the Prime Minister.