Dancehall Producer Skatta Burrell, Tanya Stephens Unimpressed With $10K Vaccine Incentive For Elderly Jamaicans
Dancehall producer Skatta Burrell, says he is unimpressed with the Jamaican Government’s $10,000 incentive aimed at citizens aged 60 and over who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the Ministry of Health and has demanded that the money be spent upgrading medical facilities.
Skatta made his discontent made after a Star report which quoted Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. Nigel Clarke as announcing that the money will be made available as of July 15 and is an “incentive for those who saw it fit to be part of the active fight against the novel coronavirus” in what has been now titled the Conditional Cash Transfer for the Vaccinated (CCTV) programme.
“Take all that money and improve the Hospitals in our country. If 20,000 persons was to receive that 10,000 it would be a total of 200,000,000, why can’t that money be spent at the KPH or community clinics where it will be of benefit to the People of this country?” Skatta wrote on the Star’s Instagram page where an excerpt of the article had been posted.
The Downsound executive’s sentiments also come amidst widening consternation by many Jamaicans that the funds are being used, among other things, to lure needy senior citizens to take the vaccine, a concern which was not lost on the Coolie Dance producer.
“Giving incentives for people to take a vaccine further adds to the skepticism we already have about some secret agenda and conspiracy theories,” Skatta stated further.
The Finance Minister’s announcement was also met with ridicule and sarcasm by Rebelution artiste Tanya Stephens, one of Jamaican politicians’ harshest critics.
The St. Mary native shared a Jamaica Observer IG post regarding the Minister’s announcement and captioned it: “How much yu granny worth? 😂😂😂😂”, much to the amusement of her followers.
Party Animal producer Kurt Riley, was among those who responded noting: “Fassy dat”, to which Stephens replied: “@djkurtriley beg to second that”.
On Tuesday the Finance Minister had announced that “there is a public interest, in vaccinating the over 60 population as “data from the Ministry of Health show that 75 percent of those who died from COVID-19 up to June 5 were aged 60 and over”.
“The GOJ will therefore provide an incentive of $10,000 to every Jamaican 60 and over who is fully vaccinated,” Dr. Clarke had written on his IG page.
Dr. Clarke, who is a Mathematician, also provided data to further advance his arguments.
“Data from MOH, up to June 5, show that 0.6% of those under 60 who contracted COVID-19 died while 8% of those aged 60 and over who contracted COVID-19 died. So the COVID-19 fatality rate for those aged 60 and over has been 13 times higher than persons younger than 60. Though persons over 60 make up only 14% of the population, they make up 50% of those hospitalized for COVID-19,” he noted.
“The COVID-19 restrictions exist to prevent the health system from being overwhelmed. Given the data above, the pandemic does not end in Jamaica until most of the over 60 population are fully vaccinated. According to MOH data, as at June 5, just over 7,000 persons aged 60 and over have been fully vaccinated (ie received their second vaccine shot),” he added.
Initially, the Minister, earlier this year, had announced that the CCTV Grant would only be available to senior citizens with an income of $1.5 million or less per annum.
According to Ministry of Heath data, as of June 5 a total of 159,615 Jamaicans have received the first shot of the vaccine, with only 7,052 of that number being fully vaccinated senior citizens.