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By Halshane Burke
Shadow Minister of Health & Wellness Dr. Alfred Dawes is calling for the Ministry of Health to articulate its position on the recent developments regarding the AstraZeneca vaccine.
There have been reports that the manufacturer has voluntarily withdrawn the vaccine from the market.
However, several news agencies have carried stories linking the withdrawal to side effects that include blood clots.
Dr. Dawes says the silence of the ministry is cause for concern, given that this was the same vaccine used to inoculate thousands of Jamaicans during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The Ministry of Health needs to come out because what is happening now is that you have a lot of anti-vaxxers who are saying 'We were right. All vaccines are wrong and we told you so.' At the same time you can't help but think that those people who were on the side of voluntarily taking the vaccine or not taking it at all have been vindicated because they had concerns about their side effects. The rhetoric coming from the Ministry of Health was to push the vaccine - from the government on the whole," he asserted.
Dr. Dawes said the lack of information from the ministry has created fertile ground for conspiracy theories to thrive.
"We can't just allow this vacuum to exist right now with this new piece of information. The Ministry was very proactive in getting out ahead of anti-vaxxers and they were very strident in that they wanted a high vaccination coverage. So with this information coming to light now, they have to state what is their true position.
"Are they going to say, 'Yes we were right and these side effects, they're minimal and that is not the reason why the vaccine is being withdrawn, so these articles saying so are inaccurate', or are they saying that, 'Well, you were right; we should have accepted that it's a personal choice rather than to force you to take the vaccine,'" he questioned.
Dr. Dawes was speaking Thursday on Radio Jamaica's Beyond the Headlines.
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