Doctor sees hope as vaccination begins

March 10 is a day that has fuelled a range of emotions among many Jamaicans, including President of the Jamaica Medical Doctors Association, Mindi Fitz-Henley.

A year ago, she admitted that she was worried sick about the well-being of her country after Jamaica recorded its first case of the novel coronavirus. However, yesterday, Fitz-Henley was in high spirits and said that she saw Jamaica moving towards a better future after the first shots of the AstraZeneca vaccines were administered. She was among the first group of healthcare workers to be vaccinated at the Good Samaritan Inn in Kingston.

"It was seamless, and I'm so excited for what is to come," she told THE STAR. "I was also very pleased to see how many persons were there receiving their vaccines, so there is some hope for Jamaica. Some were happy and emotional for some others." Reflecting on 2020 and the manner in which Jamaicans were handling COVID-19, Fitz-Henley said she is disappointed at where the country is now.

"Maybe I was naive, but I was hoping we would have continued on the trend we started out with, so we would be seeing lesser cases than what is being recorded now. I remember the days when we used to see, like, 30 cases, and now I'm screaming when I see these numbers," she said.

She suggested that the only light at the end of the tunnel for Jamaica depends on the population and whether enough persons chose to take the vaccine.

"I'm happy that we can at least see where we are heading towards normalcy once again, now that we have the vaccine. It is important, though, for others to get their vaccines as well so we can reach herd immunity, because we don't want to be stuck with COVID forever," said Fitz-Henley. "There is not a thing to be worried about. Jamaicans just need to get their shot when their time comes around."

She added "Everybody is doing their best, but we the healthcare workers can't be left with everything, the citizens have to help us. There may come a day when they go to the hospital and there is just no more doctors to attend to them. We don't want that to happen, but that's where we are heading."