Cabinet returns to face-to-face meetings

The Cabinet met face-to-face today for the first time in 10 months, following a switch to virtual meetings in December amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In his opening address, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said vaccination played an important part in the return to an in-person meeting.

“Today, we have taken the decision to return our Cabinet to face-to-face, not just for the effectiveness of our decision making, but as a symbol to the rest of the country that yes, we are still in a pandemic, however, we must transition to living with COVID-19,” Holness said. 

He said all ministers were required to indicate if they have been vaccinated, before gaining access to the meeting room. 

Holness said the government has to lead the country towards normalcy. 

“The way to do it is for every Jamaican to take the option of getting vaccinated. The way to do it is for every Jamaican to comply with the infection, prevention and control measures that have been established, which will eventually be relaxed the higher the level of vaccination. And for those who choose not to take the option, the requirement would still be in place for testing,” Holness said.  

The prime minister sought to explain that testing would be necessary for gatherings in an effort to build a guarantee that the potential of COVID-19 spread is low. 

Holness explained that the online meetings had challenges with the reliability of the Internet and much was lost in communication. 

“If we are having this challenge meeting online in the Cabinet, can you imagine the challenge our children are having trying to learn online? We must return our children to school and again the way to do it is to have your children and our teachers vaccinated,” Holness remarked. 

- Judana Murphy

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