Yes to vaccines, no to lockdowns

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Recently, the Boulevard Baptist Church hosted a discussion on COVID-19 vaccines. The presenter, Dr Naydene Williams, director of health services, planning and integration in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, explained the rigorous stages of testing the vaccines underwent. The conclusion was that the benefits of vaccines far outweigh the risks.

There is a place to disagree with some of the measures taken by the Andrew Holness administration. However, the allegation that the prime minister (PM) has no lockdown on Saturdays but on Sundays because of his Adventist affiliation is unfair. In fact, the PM reasons for allowing Saturdays as a movement day was for shopping and stocktaking, which would not endear him to Adventists.

What is needed is more flexibility on the part of those whose main day of congregational worship is Sunday. Our church changed its time from Sunday, August 22, to Saturday August 21, when members were ‘free’ to congregate. There is no moral holiness or magic in one day over another. Many Christians do not know that in Exodus 20, Sabbath observance was rooted in the Creation story, while the Ten Commandments as recorded in Deuteronomy 5: 12-15 has a completely different reason for Sabbath observance – “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy . . . Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore, the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.” Being unfair to the PM is unhelpful.

However, there are areas where the PM’s response to the escalation in positive cases, hospitalisations and deaths defies logic. There was a spike at a business process outsourcing (BPO) establishment with over 100 positive cases and resulted in the death of a manager. Also, one hotel had an outbreak of about 30 cases. One would have expected changes for the BPO sector, such as having no more 20 people in a location, bearing in mind that the employees are working for eight hours in closed quarters; and the hotels having to accommodate at 50 per cent capacity. But BPO and hotels were left unscathed again, while churches, which have no record of spreading the virus, have had gatherings for worship services, funerals, and weddings ‘chopped’. This is not science.

Lockdowns, as implemented by the Government, do not appear to work. In fact, there are 57 categories of persons exempted from the no-movement initiative. Furthermore, lockdowns lead to congestion and overcrowding on the movement days.

The Wall Street Journal article ‘Lockdowns didn’t stop COVID’ (May 9, 2021), stated that a study found that more virus spread inside homes than workplaces. After the first month, organisations that adopted prevention protocols became safer places that the wider community. In Jamaica, for the last 12 months, there is a large private school that has face-to-face classes, while observing protocols. New Zealand instituted a lockdown because there was one case of coronavirus. Is that where we want to go?

Let us encourage people to take the vaccine, observe protocols, and incentivise them as the best ways to fight this virus; and no more lockdowns.

REV DEVON DICK