Vybz Kartel wants to take the Covid- 19 vaccine, says his lawyer Isat Buchanan.
Vybz Kartel‘s Attorney-at-law, Isat Buchanan, says that the incarcerated deejay is ready to take the Covid-19 vaccine but that the jab is not yet organized for prisoners. In a television interview on Monday night, the lawyer said that Kartel expressed his desire to take the jab.
“They (prisoners) too are a class which are fragile and don’t have the ability to say let me be vaccinated and so of course it is of concern because they are persons who are ready and willing… in conversations with him he is ready and willing to take the vaccine if it is offered,” Buchanan said in a Television Jamaica interview Monday night.
Jamaica has been on a feverish campaign to vaccinate all Jamaicans. However, despite a limited amount of vaccines being available, there is still some hesitancy as many fear taking the vaccines or believe in anti-Covid conspiracies.
Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness has even warned that if persons don’t turn up to take the vaccines, they will expire and will have to be dumped.
However, it seems that a few influential persons are of the view that Vybz Kartel and other dancehall acts could help the government with tackling the public’s anti-Covid vaccine stance. Buchanan and Professor Carolyn Cooper have both suggested that the government could have approached Kartel and others to be part of the government’s efforts to reach the masses via music.
According to them, artists could become the messengers to get Jamaicans vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Buchanan, who is representing Kartel in his upcoming Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) appeal, says Kartel and other inmates should be vaccinated.
“Mr Palmer is ready and willing to take the vaccine if it were available, but it is not. This is not no publicity stunt, and I will go as far as say they should provide it for all inmates.”
Professor Dr. Cooper has also urged the Prime Minister to seek Vybz Kartel’s support to help spread the pro-vax message.
“Howard Mitchell, chairman a di National Health Fund, im tell mi seh im did tell Tufton fi go a prison an reason wid Vybz Kartel fi see if im wuda buss a chune fi encourage people fi tek di vaccine,” she said in a Gleaner article this week.
Of course, Kartel is not legally allowed to record in prison, and if he had to, he would need permission from the state.
In the meantime, it seems that the dancehall deejay has weighed the pros and cons of the vaccine and is moving in favor of it. This could be because of the fact that Vybz Kartel might be suffering from underlying illnesses that make him vulnerable to the virus and could suffer complications if infected.
The dancehall icon revealed last week on a Fox 5 NY News interview that he has been battling illness for a few years now while in prison. He didn’t expand further on the nature of his illness, but over the years, he had to be taken to the hospital and receive a special doctor’s visit after having medical emergencies behind bars.
