The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

HEALTH and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville said it is very unlikely the government will purchase additional doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, noting challenges with uptake by the public.

The country struggled to convince many Bahamians to receive the one-dose vaccine and faced the risk of the shots expiring due to a surplus supply that was available.

However, the minister confirmed yesterday there had been progress in using the available J&J supply, adding some of the doses had been sent to a neighbouring Caribbean island.

  He said he was unsure of how many were sent and where, but the initiative was headed by the Chief Medical Officer’s office.

 “Yes, we’re making progress,” he said when asked about the expiring doses. “Some of the Johnson & Johnson was sent to another country. We do see some uptick of the Johnson & Johnson locally and we encourage every Bahamian out there to come forward.

 “We are using social mobilisation to be able to capture that group of individuals who are still undecided but still willing and so we encourage everyone to go out and be vaccinated and take into consideration the Johnson & Johnson jab as well.”

 The minister also responded to critics who have said the country’s supply should not have been used for booster shots, but instead to increase vaccine coverage.

 Last week Dr Jarbas Barbosa, assistant director of the Pan American Health Organisation, expressed this view.

 “We (are) using the science,” Dr Darville said. “When it comes to social mobilisation it is a technique that has been used in virology and vaccination drives around the world.

 “This is scientific and we intend to use every measure to get vaccines in arms.

  “What is important for us is to really increase the amount of people vaccinated in our country so that we can keep people out of hospital and reduce the incidences of death as a result of COVID-19.”

  Dr Darville also told reporters the government was expected to ramp up its vaccination campaign.

 “The booster campaign is going extremely well. We still have a lot more work to do.

 “In the next few days, you will see us ramping up and trying our best to really get public education on board so that Bahamians could realise that we have a new variant that is highly transmissible that is coming our way and it is important to get vaccinated.

 “Vaccinations save lives and vaccination in the event that you do get COVID-19 reduces your chance of being hospitalised.”

 He was further asked about a CDC study that mentioned a preference for the Pfizer and Moderna brands over the J&J shot.

 “For us here in The Bahamas when we purchased the Johnson & Johnson (doses) in the country, we realised that the uptake was not as aggressive as we thought it would be when Pfizer came on stream.

 “And so, for us who have a surplus of Johnson & Johnson now in our arsenal and having great difficulty to convince Bahamians to take Johnson & Johnson, it’s very unlikely that we will go ahead and purchase additional Johnson & Johnson at this time.

 “But I want the Bahamian people to know that Johnson & Johnson is an effective vaccine and there is also a programme in place for booster shots with Johnson & Johnson.”

 Health officials said 26 new cases of the virus were recorded on Monday. This brought the confirmed case toll since the start of the pandemic to 23,161.