Are local entertainers secretly taking the vaccine while putting up a defiant front for their ‘anti-vax’ supporters?

Since the beginning of the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine around the world, one of the more vocal opposition groups has been Jamaican entertainers.

A number of dancehall and reggae stars have used their influential platforms to denounce the administration of the vaccine, citing reasons ranging from medical complications to a global conspiracy of control, and declare that they have no intention of taking the jab.

Among those lambasting the vaccine roll out has been the likes of Buju Banton, Tanya Stephens, Spragga Benz and others who have sought to question the veracity of the programme and ask persons to take a deeper look.

However, with news of the United States and other countries implementing vaccine mandates to visitors, anti-vax entertainers who make most of their income by performing in some of these markets face a possible fallout in earnings.

One person watching the development is Jamaican songbird Nadine Sutherland who suggested that the situation has a number of local entertainers taking the jab in secret.

In a tweet on Thursday, September 29, she shared her take on the matter. “Yesterday, I realized that some people are hiding and ‘jook’. Hide an jook is a talk on the streets. Some Entertainers are taking the jook secretly, not wanting their fans to know. Hmmmm, November is going to be interesting, I guess some will be outed. The US dollar beckons!” she remarked.

It’s unclear who these entertainers might be but it should be an interesting development when the mandates become effective to see who may have chosen to take the ‘jook’ in secret. In recent times a number of entertainers would have travelled and performed with no hassle, but that could change in the coming days.

Still, a number of Jamaican entertainers have shown their support for the vaccination efforts, among them Ding Dong, Mr Lexx and Wayne Marshall.