Updated | Health Ministry boosting vaccination drive through mobile service
Published:Thursday | September 30, 2021 | 10:43 AM
The Ministry of Health and Wellness is to ramp up its mobile COVID-19 vaccination service as it seeks to bring the jab to more Jamaicans.
Portfolio Minister Dr Christopher Tufton says the donation of two buses, valued at J$41 million, which have already been put to use, serves as an important tool in the Government's drive to get at least 65 per cent of the population inoculated.
The buses, which are a gift from the people of Yantai, China, thanks to the efforts of the Yantai Municipal People's Government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, were officially handed over today at a virtual ceremony.
“The Government of Jamaica has set an ambitious goal...and the mobile buses will allow for us to achieve this target by taking the vaccine to people at their convenience,” said Tufton.
Tufton said that so far the buses have visited 12 locations with another five sites planned over the next few days.
Approximately 200 persons were inoculated at each stop, said Tufton.
Describing the mobile service as “a lifesaving tool”, the health minister is hopeful that this initiative will cause more Jamaicans to become vaccinated.
Over 80,000 Jamaicans have been infected and up to 1,800 lives claimed since March 2020.
Tufton indicated that up to yesterday afternoon over 756,000 doses of vaccines had been administered in Jamaica.
For her part, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kamina Johnson Smith thanked China for its assistance to Jamaica.
She said that the donation will push for new and creative approaches to improve vaccination take-up, with the goal of boosting vaccination roll-out and “pave our way to the path of normalcy.”
NOTE: A previous version of this story had a wrong Jamaican-dollar value.
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