Senior citizen challenges anti-vaxxers to change stance

Monica Watson, 71, is hoping to be a testament against anti-vaxxers.

"I am going down the street now to tell a young guy to come take the vaccine because him say him a fi see me tek it first. So I am going to tell him that I took it and I don't feel any way," said Watson, who was the first to get her jab of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine being administered at the Summerfield Community Health Centre in Clarendon, late last week. The vaccination of people 75 years and older began last Monday.

Watson, a retired dressmaker of Orange River in the parish, said she was excited to get her dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Her 84-year-old husband, Elry Watson, was also inoculated.

"I take it and nothing don't wrong with me. I tell the young man say we a go take it and we nah dead, so you a go see say we still alive," said Watson, adding that she is on a mission to encourage anti-vaxxers to get their jabs.

She told THE STAR that she was anxious to get her vaccine shot to reduce her chances of contracting the dreaded respiratory disease, adding that she almost never gets sick.

"The first time I sick is the other day, so I don't ever feel sick. Not even me head hurt me. Me nuh feel pain and me have me good eyesight same way. I don't read with glasses," she said.

Watson was happy for the opportunity to meet the Minister of Health, Dr Christopher Tufton, who visited the vaccination site. "Mr Tufton is very nice, and thank Mr Andrew Holness for seeking out for Jamaica to get a better healthcare, 'cause it's hard work them a fi go though to do that," she said.

Watson, having journeyed from her home with hopes of being first in line, said she was pleased with how fast the process was, adding that she did not have to wait too long for her jab after registering.

Noting the issue of overcrowding at the facility, Joseph Grant, parish manager for the Clarendon Health Services, said the team is looking into using another facility for the next round of vaccines.