Mr Lexx Demands Christopher Tufton Resign After Water Vs Vaccination Comment
Minister of Health Dr. Christopher Tufton, met the ire of Mr Lexx, who is now calling for his resignation, after seeing a video of the Minister in a rural community, suggesting that persons prioritise getting vaccinated instead of focusing on getting water in their pipes first.
Mr Lexx, who is a part of the Minister’s Every Vax Counts campaign, made his comment on Sunday morning after getting wind of the exchange between the residents and Tufton which took place during the Minister’s vaccination tour. The video of the interaction was posted on Instagram by Rebelution artiste Tanya Stephens.
“Jus fi dat him fi step dung. Chang and Tufton tuh… But unuh nuh ready fi dem reasoning deh,” the Full Hundred artist wrote, including Security Minister Horace Chang in the mix.
In the video clip, Tufton and a few other persons are seen standing in the back of a pickup truck whilst interacting with some community members in rural Jamaica.
The villagers are heard lightheartedly heckling the politicians in the truck, telling them that they want water and they had not had the commodity for some time, and argued that it was more of a priority to them, than getting vaccinated.
“Yuh nuh love wi, if yuh wae love wi, you woulda meck wi get wata,” an elderly woman can be heard saying.
Amidst the shouts, Tufton, with a microphone in hand, can be heard trying to convince the residents that the virus was more of an emergency than getting water, which they could obtain at a later date.
“Thank yuh very much MP… and – hello, hello, hello. Betta yuh teck the vaccine and get di water after,” Dr. Tufton said, resulting in an outburst of laughter from the people, one whom shouted back: “wi naw teck no vaccine.”
The Minister’s response to the spirited bantering was not taken lightly by Stephens, who asserted that the Minister was being highly facetious.
“WHAT THE BLOODCLAAT OONU REALLY A DEAL WID @andrewholnessjm @jlpjamaica ?????????” she posted beneath the video clip.
She was joined by Count Tree artiste Spragga Benz, an ardent opponent of vaccination, which he has deemed among other things and attempt by governments to implement a “New World Order”.
“Mi cant even begin fi say weh mi wish did happen to him fi say dat,” Spragga said.
Over the course of the last week, Stephens has upped her opposition to mandatory vaccinations, and has questioned the manner in which the Government of Jamaican has been going about its vaccination campaign.
A few days ago she took umbrage the announcement that he Government in its bid to get 65 percent of the population vaccinated by early 2022, had established a National COVID-19 Vaccination Operationalisation Taskforce chaired by former University of the West Indies (UWI) Principal, Professor Gordon Shirley.
The other listed members of the committee include Dunstan Bryan, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Chief Medical Officer Dr Jacqueline Bisasor-McKenzie, former CMO Dr Sheila Campbell Forrester and other persons spanning the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), and persons from the private sector.
Stephens had shared the announcement about the task force and questioned the wisdom and motive of the Government setting up an entity.
“Is the ultimate objective to get people HEALTHY? Or is it to get people vaccinated?” the It’s a Pity artist had written.
“Has a task force been established to explore the persistent claims of DOCTORS treating covid patients successfully? Are these people volunteers?” she added.
“I know you believe the jab is the only way. Do you believe you arrived at that conclusion honestly? If you thought this could easily be cured with items already sitting in your house…would you still push it and force people out of work for not accepting it??? Start asking yourself the hard questions,” she asked the Government.
In another post, she had rebuked employers and vaccinated persons whom she said have been trying to coerce persons who are hesitant, to take the jab.
“I’m going to stop talking when you all stop disregarding the other voices. To say: ‘I took it and I’m fine!’ makes you nothing more than an apathetic piece of excrement,” she wrote.
“Stop treating people like statistics. You can’t force someone to gamble with their health and refusing them employment and access to basic amenities is forcing them. All of you who talk shit NEED to accept the liability for these kind of outcomes which are way too many for comfort,” the St. Mary native had added.
A while later, in response to comments from some of her followers, Stephens had added: “If people want to take it, fine. But they should let people know what they’re gambling. They keep saying miniscule side effects and downplaying people actual lived experience. Nope! That doesn’t look suspect at all!”