Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, says parents whose children are 12 years and older should not be apprehensive about taking them to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

“The advice [for parents] continues to be that the vaccine used for children 12 years and over remains safe –  the Pfizer vaccine,” Dr. Tufton said,  during a tour of vaccination sites in St. James on Wednesday (September 8).

He said there remains no evidence of any major adverse reaction in children who have already taken the vaccine in the country.

The Minister pointed out that, globally, there is an increasing number of children who are contracting the virus, particularly in those countries where the Delta variant is widespread.

“So, that should be a warning for us that we cannot totally shelter in this environment our children or any of us without the vaccination as a solution, and I am encouraging all Jamaicans to participate,” Dr. Tufton said.

He is encouraging local parents to protect their children by mobilising them to participate in the Government’s national coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination programme.

In the meantime, he said Western Jamaica continues to represent one of the higher points of positivity for COVID-19, adding that this is the reason surveillance and monitoring are critical at this moment.

“This is also why the response is important and why the vaccination is important,” Dr. Tufton emphasised.

“While my concern is for the entire country at this point, we do go into areas where we think the levels of positivity are higher than normal, and the West would certainly represent one of these,” he added.

The day’s tour of vaccination sites took the Minister to Flanker, downtown Montego Bay, Farm Heights, Adelphi, Cambridge and Catadupa.