Owner of Billboards Pushing Ads Discouraging Vaccination on St. Croix Stands By Ads; Dept. of Health Investigating

ST. CROIX — Two billboards on St. Croix owned by a businessman named Rick Jarvis, one located near the Sion Farm traffic lights and another near the La Reine traffic lights have been running ads discouraging vaccination against Covid-19, complicating efforts by government and health authorities to increase vaccination rates in the territory.

Mr. Jarvis, however, who continues to receive a number of government ads even as his operation hampers the government's Covid-19 efforts, stood by his business model during an interview with the Consortium Thursday night, contending that the body's natural immune system was sufficient to fight the Covid-19 disease. To date 4.4 million people have died from the virus worldwide, including 72 Virgin Islanders.

According to the New York Times realtime Covid-19 tracker, only 45 percent of Virgin Islanders were vaccinated as of Friday, among the lowest in the United States.

The billboard in La Reine as of Thursday included two ads. One reads, "Apparently, our creator-designed immune system has not been doing a good job after millions of years, so they came up with a better idea.... vaccines."

Asked why he believed the vaccines would be developed if they were not needed to fight Covid-19, Mr. Jarvis said, "There have spinach and broccoli and all these kinds of things, right? Is that good for the body? And they got junk food." Mr, Jarvis did not elaborate.

Health Commissioner Justa Encarnacion said Thursday the department is investigating whether the ads meet the misinformation threshold. She further stated that the V.I. Dept. of Health would continue to provide information grounded in solid data based on scientific research and approved by the country's leading health authorities. "We go to what we've always said and continue to educate the community based on the science and the data, and we'll continue to do that. And if we continue to do that, we'll always change even if it's one mind, then that one mind can change others, and that's really and truly how we look at it," she said.