Getting those COVID Vaccines

The rollout of pediatric Pfizer vaccinations continues across the country, as healthcare professionals headed to schools to administer at least the first jab to children five to eleven years old. The vaccine is not mandatory, and while there is some hesitancy at all levels of COVID vaccinations, sixty-nine point eight percent of the target population has been inoculated. The Ministry of Health and Wellness is encouraging parents to get themselves, vulnerable persons within their household, and their children vaccinated.

Kevin Bernard

Kevin Bernard, Area Representative, Orange Walk East

“We are still optimistic that by September 2022, we will be able to achieve our targeted goal of seventy percent inoculation by the end of September 2022. And so we are encouraging people to take advantage. Vaccinations sites are all over the country; at schools at the hospitals – we want to encourage our people to get vaccinated. For those who are still hesitant, there is a lot of information on the benefits of the vaccine.”

Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa

Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa, Director of Public Health and Wellness, M.O.H.W.

“At this point that schools are closing, we are depending on the parents to come in so that the child can get that second dose. It is available, we have a lot of pediatric vaccines and we want to improve and encourage the uptake of this vaccine as quickly as possible. It helps us as a country as well to ensure that we are protected from severe hospitalizations and severe decease and from death as well from COVID-19 if you are vaccinated. Our numbers show for the targeted population, we have sixty-nine point eight percent of our targeted population vaccinated. Of course, as with many other things, you would have people who would not agree and would voice that. The vaccine is not a mandatory vaccine; we have not forced anybody to take the vaccine and even with that, we’ve had sixty-nine point eight percent of persons vaccinated. Now for the pediatric dose, it is slower than initially and there are many factors like the mildness of the symptoms, persons moving on – it’s been two years that we’ve been battling with COVID – so it is something that we keep going out, doing our outreach, doing our education at one-on-one level, at schools, educating teachers, principals and parents and we are seeing the effects of that work that we’ve put in prior to rolling out pediatric vaccines.”