‘I will be taking the vaccine’ - Polio survivor urges fellow Jamaicans to do likewise

Polio survivor Imogene Daley-Graham is eager to get her COVID-19 vaccine, which is considered to be a major defence against the coronavirus that has infected 112 million people worldwide, nearly 2.5 million of whom have died.

Daley-Graham, in an interview with this newspaper last April, described the coronavirus as the "worst thing that ever entered this earth". Jamaica, at the time, had 59 cases of the infection, including three deaths. The number of cases has since climbed to 21,826, with 405 confirmed to have died from the virus and another 49 deaths are under investigation.

"With all that is happening now, it shows that COVID is the worst disease ever," she 67-year-old said.

She, however, believes that the solution to controlling the rampaging virus lies with the introduction of vaccines as well as a universal acceptance of the need to follow the protocols of mask-wearing, good hand hygiene and physical distancing.

Daley-Graham said that she will be taking the vaccine and is encouraging fellow Jamaicans to get vaccinated against the virus. "I will be taking the vaccine as it gets here," she said.

Inoculation drive

The Jamaican Government has identified money to buy enough vaccines to inoculate at least two million persons on the island. The first batch of vaccines was due by mid-February, but up to yesterday not a single vial had arrived. Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton said he is not sure when the vaccines would come, but promised that the health sector is prepared to start the inoculation drive.

Tufton said that in the first phase, the vaccine will be given to healthcare personnel, persons 60 years and older, soldiers, police, fire brigade personnel and prison warders.

Daley-Graham, who falls in the over-60 age group, said she is not worried by the chatter about the ill-effects that the jab could have on persons.

"I have a family member who lives in the US who took the vaccine and she said it gave her a burst of energy, and she is okay, while there are others who say it makes them feel lethargic. It has different reaction to different people, but I think I would take that vaccine. Every disease that comes around is the vaccine that cures it, so I don't think this one is any different. It may just give a different reaction to everyone, but I would advise persons to take it so we can diminish this disease," she said.

Daley-Graham is one of the 70 polio survivors in Jamaica, contracting the disease when she was one year old in 1954. At the time, she lived with her family in Whitfield Town, St Andrew.

Like polio, which was formally declared eliminated from the region in 1994, Daley-Graham is convinced that COVID-19 can be conquered.

"We have to follow protocols, and who can get the vaccine should just take it. I don't think COVID is going to go away soon, but I think we can get it under control . All I know is that this ting is still worse than the plagues of Egypt because the plague was ordained by God because of the behaviour of the people, but this is man-made for all I know," Daley-Graham said.