Jamaica’s pandemic protocols could soon be determined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) which is currently drafting a legally binding agreement that will dictate the global response of Member States to medical emergencies like COVID-19.
The final draft of the global accord on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response also called WHO CA+ is not expected to be ready until May 2024, but already medical practitioners, church leaders and politicians are sounding the alarm that it will give the UN body too much power to curtail the civil liberties of citizens globally.
In a letter to Prime Minister Andrew Holness on March 6, 2023, the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society (JCHS) raised concerns about Jamaica ceding its sovereignty to WHO, an unelected foreign body who will be central to the execution of the response to a pandemic.
“The WHO has not shown itself to be trustworthy in the COVID-19 pandemic. There is no evidence that countries that followed WHO’s advice did better than those that did not,” the group asserted.
The JCHS acknowledged that the WHO CA+ document is still a work in progress, but insisted that the seriousness of possible outcomes, warranted them bringing their concerns to the Prime Minister’s attention. Another concern raised was the perceived inordinate influence major financial contributors to the WHO, like Bill and Melinda Gates has on its financial policy. Opposition leader, Mark Golding, was also copied.
Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr Keith Rowley has given strong support for the pandemic accord, but he too was recently cautioned by citizens of his country to tread carefully in giving his commitment to the document, through a paid advertisement in the form of an open letter to the political leader.
“As a group of concerned citizens, comprising practitioners in medicine, public health, labour, advocacy, and theology, we urge you to seek consultation and consent from the citizenry before making potentially imprudent commitments to international accords which can profoundly impact our autonomy in public health and the rights and freedoms of the people during PHEICS (Public Health Emergencies of International Concern),” the group wrote.
The advertisement which was carried on July 20 in one of the country’s national newspapers gave a summary of the WHO Convention Articles and the International Health Regulations (IHR) amendments that necessitated urgent action. The IHR and the WHO Convention Articles are sibling agreements, which will be used in the case of global public health emergencies.
“We recognise the need for international collaboration during PHEICs. However the terms of these accords, must respect the constitutional guarantees, fundamental human rights and the democratic will of the citizenry. As these instruments provide for the preparation and management of PHEICs, they must equally restrain any public health interventions which unjustifiably and unemperically trammel citizens with lockdowns, limit movement or assembly, facilitate invasion of privacy, restrict access to employment and education, suppress free speech, or infringe upon bodily integrity,” the group of concerned citizens wrote.
Jamaicans, like other citizens regionally and internationally, were subjected to lockdowns and selected mandatory vaccinations and mask wearing after COVID-19 was detected in the island in March 2020. Business places, churches and schools were mandated to shutter their doors for varying periods, and Jamaicans were subjected to nightly curfews under the Disaster Risk Management Act (DRMA). Some persons lost their jobs or were otherwise persecuted because they refused to take the COVID-19 injection.
When approved, the WHO pandemic accord will determine the protocols for managing health crisis for all 194 member states in the future. The extent of Jamaica’s contribution to the document is not known, as telephone calls to Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton by the Freedom Come Rain newspaper went unanswered. A response to questions sent via email for the Minister’s feedback, were not forthcoming up to press time.
Dr Tufton indicated during a post cabinet press briefing on July 19, that the country’s COVID-19 cases were on the increase. He said cases have moved from an average of 100 per month since January to over 130 infections as of that week.
“We not seeing any significant increase in deaths…but the fact that we are seeing increases in positivity, it means that it will have an impact on hospitalisation and bed occupancy, and the fact that people are in hospital means the probability of people dying will increase, so we can’t take it lightly,” said the health minister, while noting that the health ministry would continue to monitor the situation.
Director of the Pan American Health Organisation, Dr Jarbas Barbosa told member states that approving the new instrument and amendments to the IHR-2005 will set the basis for a safer world for all humanity and is a once in a generation opportunity. He told those in attendance at a meeting to discuss the future pandemic instrument in Washington, DC, on July 10, that it was important that Member States engage actively in the deliberations in Geneva, where the UN is headquartered.
There are those however, like former Congresswoman Michele Bachmann who believes not all nations are fully aware of the implications of placing this level of power in the hands of the UN.
“When you look at what the Bible says and the convergence of events that we are seeing across the world right now, and what the prophets from the Bible have said, we need to really pay attention to what’s going on. Because this is the creation of a platform for global government. And according to the Bible, things that are not good come out of a global government,” warned Bachmann during an interview with CBN News.
The WHO maintains that governments are the ones leading the negotiations. Although some in the US Congress has opposed the move to further empower the WHO, the Biden administration has offered strong support for what is being regarded as one of the biggest power-grabs by unelected globalists who will be able to declare pandemics, and then control a country’s response.
