KINGSTON, Jamaica – Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton says he will be responding to growing concerns following reports that the COVID 19 vaccine manufactured by AstraZeneca has been withdrawn from the market due to concerns of serious side effects.
Earlier this week, AstraZeneca said it was withdrawing its COVID-19 vaccine this follows an admission from the company that the vaccine could cause rare side effects such as blood clots and low blood platelet counts.
The admission came via a U.K. class action lawsuit that sought US$125 million for almost 50 victims of AstraZeneca vaccine side effects.
Tufton said a statement would be made after the main opposition People’s National Party’s Shadow Minister of Health Dr. Alfred Dawes on Thursday called for the Ministry of Health to articulate its position on the recent developments regarding the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Speaking Friday on Radio Jamaica’s talk show programme, Hotline,Tufton also defended the government’s vaccine programme during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We took a very conservative position on the distribution of vaccines to our population. We insisted at all times that vaccines should go through the various expert committees and validation and final sanctioning by the World Health Organization and their expert committees. There are some countries that did not do that. There were other vaccines that were available on the market, which we could have accessed earlier, which we did not based on that highest standard of validation that we insisted on.
“So we believe as a country, as a government, we took the right approach and I am prepared to still maintain that Jamaicans were safer for the vaccine,” he said.
Tufton who also said he preferred to be briefed by the clinical team before giving more details, was unable to recall on the spot whether the government had granted an exemption to AstraZeneca for any liability regarding the safety of the vaccine.
He then insisted that the government should not be held liable for any deaths associated with the vaccine, arguing that the shot saved the lives of thousands of Jamaicans during the global pandemic.
“We went through a validation process. We were very conservative and we offered the vaccine to every Jamaican who wanted, who opted to take it. Clearly, government has an overall responsibility to protect the country and the nation, particularly in a crisis, such as this one. And I still very much believe that…we did the right thing,” he said, adding that his only regret is that more than 3,000 Jamaicans died from COVID-19.
