Shaggy’s Pro COVID-19 Vaccine Statements Met With Mixed Reactions From Jamaicans

Dancehall megastar Shaggy’s recent declaration that he would be at the “front of the line” whenever the COVID-19 vaccine becomes available in Jamaica, has resulted in a barrage of comments raining down on him on social media, most ranging from ridicule to trepidation and even outright scorn.

Shaggy’s comments were published in a Jamaica Observer article today, which quoted the Boombastic artiste as brushing aside “conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccines” while stating that he was ready for his inoculation.

“Mi deh a di front a the line,” Shaggy said, before adding that, among other things, “this isn’t di first vaccine we’ve taken” and that “COVID is a part of SARS” (severe acute respiratory syndrome).

According to the Observer article, Shaggy, in a bid to allay misgivings by many Jamaicans about the speed with which the two most prominent COVID-19 vaccines have been developed by the pharmaceutical trio of Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna, argued that “scientists have been working on vaccines for the longest time”.

According to the Observer, Shaggy also said fears about harm to people’s health from the vaccine made “little sense” adding that “this is about money; this is about business. There’s too much money being lost right now with COVID. Dem want to fix it. It’s not good business for them to make people die”.

The Oh Carolina artiste also dismissed as conspiracy theories that the coronavirus was artificially created and that any treatment for the virus was designed to track people, arguing that smartphones were already capable of doing that.

There were many commenters who jeered the former US Marine in their responses, some claiming that the 51-year-old had already lived his life and so perhaps did not care at this point whether the vaccine would have deleterious side-effects on his body.

“So long Shaggy,” steveclarke4 teased, while orchinochopp mocked: “God guh wid you, cause mi nah guh,” before adding two laughing icons.

Also joining in the mocking of the Dancehall megastar were obadyah76 who quipped: “Di poor sacrifice of a haughty rich Shaggy” while shatty851 joked: “So long bye bye Shaggy you were good while u lasted”.

Other angry fans used the artiste’s past service in the US military to label him as a CIA agent, while others claimed he had been ordered to endorse the vaccine by the authorities.

Shaggy had several supporters though, among them valet_245. “I agree with you Shaggy. Don’t know why this big excitement,” she wrote.

There were others like Cassandra Burton who south to serve as the ‘voice of reason’, arguing that vaccines were inherently good, but needed to be properly vetted, with trials taking place over a long period of time, as done historically.

“Taking the vaccine is not the problem because we in the Caribbean take a lot of vaccines, ‘‘it’s just the amount of time they take to make it without proper testing and knowing the long term effect on humans… they trying to treat you for Covid but they don’t care if it affects your kidneys, liver etc…. it like whatever happen to you, deal with it but you need Covid shots now,” she noted.

Another commenter, chrisscw, encouraged readers to educate themselves and conduct their own research, on the recommended time and methods to create safe and trusted vaccines.

“We must not be swayed by opinions and celebrities using their platform as influencers to convince or not convince… Black people must educate themselves and then form an opinion. Not allow others to lead us as we always do,” he said.

Shaggy’s position is in stark contrast to the anti-vaccine stance taken by his musical compatriots Sizzla Kalonji, Spragga Benz, and Chronixx.

The idea of administering a COVID-19 vaccine come in for strong disapproval from Sizzla, who in late October heaped condemnation on the heads of those whom he said are pushing for a COVID-19 vaccine.

According to Sizzla, the vaccine, when develop, ought to be rejected by black people, as it will be micro-chipped and outfitted with “nano-particles used to manipulate DNA activities” to obliterate people of African descent.

Spragga Benz has also been staging a longstanding anti-vaccine campaign on Instagram.

“Ask yourself black people…Which nation is O-type blood ? If we are more immune why they targeting us and not the less immune? …they deliberately try inoculating us in new and creative ways and mi naa ask mi a tell. … Nothing to fear even if you contract this virus as many beat it with vitamin D and other simple remedies. ..just do healthy things and eat right,” Spragga wrote in one of his most recent posts.

In a now-deleted post, Chronixx had stated that “tech heads and war heads can’t talk to rastaman about human health and that  he would only be “going online for a concert if it’s an action against global vaccination”.