Jamaica is due to begin receiving COVID-19 vaccines from the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) Facility on April 21, 2021.
The announcement was made in the House of Representatives by the Minister of Health and Welfare, Dr. Christopher Tufton, recently.
The COVAX Facility was designed to accelerate equitable access by countries around the world to safe COVID-19 vaccines.
Jamaica is among the six members of the Caribbean Public Health Agency who have received full payment for the entrance required to install COVAX.
Tufton told parliament that 292,399 doses of the vaccines, which is sufficient for five percent of the population, will be delivered in April.
Health professionals, members of the Jamaica Police Force, members of the Jamaica Defense Force, correctional officers, immigration customs officers, parliamentarians, people in wards and the elderly are at the top of the list to receive the first jabs.
The vaccine should be administered in two doses, which will be administered weeks apart.
The other doses are scheduled to arrive in Jamaica on July 21st and December 21st.
At the end of that period, 16 percent of the population should be vaccinated through COVAX.
Vaccination sites will be established at West Indian University Hospital, Bustamante Children’s Hospital, National Chest Hospital, Spanish Town Hospital, Mandeville Regional Hospital, Cornwall Regional Hospital and St. Ann’s Bay Regional Hospital for frontline staff.
Some health centers are also being considered for use as vaccination sites.
Although vaccines are due to arrive in Jamaica in three months, countries like the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom have already started vaccinating their populations.
Their dependent territories have also received doses.
This generated outrage on the part of the leader of the World Health Organization, because the poorest countries could suffer while the pandemic prevails.
Tufton also announced that Jamaica will seek Cuba and India for additional vaccines.
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