KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton, says a digital health platform to help manage the Government’s COVID-19 vaccination drive should be launched in full by early April.

The minister made the disclosure this morning at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with UNICEF Jamaica and the Private Sector Vaccine Initiative (PSVI) for increased support of the rollout of vaccines across the island.

“We’re just adjusting a few areas to ensure there are no kinks when the system is launched,” he said.

“The system will be accessed through the websites of the ministry, the regional health authorities or through a call centre that will manage the process of setting appointments for persons to be vaccinated,” he added.

Tufton noted that the MOU and handover of the tablets were the latest steps in the Government’s commitment to working with the private sector and organisations such as UNICEF to get Jamaicans vaccinated.

UNICEF Country Representative, Mariko Kagoshima, said the digital health platform will support an efficient and equitable rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“The digital health platform will facilitate the preregistration for vaccination according to the prioritisation set by the government, notification of vaccination to the users, collection of critical vaccination data by individual and demographic grouping and reporting of real time analysis of aggregated data as well as record keeping of vaccine given to recipients,” she said.

To assist with the implementation of the platform, the ministry received 400 tablets from the PSVI, along with keyboards, cases and screen protectors for use at vaccination centres islandwide.

Chairman of the PSVI’s oversight committee, Christopher Zacca, said that the equipment, which cost some $11 million will enhance the efficiency of the rollout of the national vaccination plan.

Zacca also announced that the PSVI will be providing financial and technical assistance to the health ministry as well as facilitating the training of personnel in the use of the platform.

The Government began the rollout of its COVID-19 vaccination programme last Wednesday, following the arrival of 50,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine donated by the Government of India two days prior.

Another 14,400 doses of the vaccine, procured under the COVAX Facility, were delivered yesterday.

As at Sunday, a total of 12,099 persons were inoculated across the island, representing 71 per cent of the 17,050 target for week one.

Sashell Williams