Smooth process, but rain dampens COVID-19 vaccination blitz
KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Ministry of Health is preparing to report that it gave the COVID-19 jab to fewer than the 1,000 people it targeted today during its blitz at the National Arena, despite the process being smoother than the first blitz at the same facility one week ago.
“We have been affected by the weather, as you can see. But up to this point (12:30 pm) I am told we are about 400 plus and I expect we will finish between five and six hundred like the last time,” Minister of Health Dr Christopher Tufton told OBSERVER ONLINE.
He pointed out that a number of Corporate Area Members of Parliament, including Desmond McKenzie, Julian Robinson, Angela Brown Burke and Donovan Williams, all assisted in getting out people 75 and older to be vaccinated.
“So, let us look what the numbers are like when we are done,” added Dr Tufton.
Today’s vaccination blitz was scheduled to start at 10:00 am but started much earlier as people arrived at the National Arena in St Andrew from shortly after 8:00 am. It is scheduled to close registration at 3:00 pm.
For Dr Tufton, the past two vaccination blitzes at the Arena have provided valuable lessons for when it is rolled out islandwide next weekend.
“It should get smoother with each activity and today, as you can see, we have a lot of clearer signage. The team would have gone through one event similar and we brought in team members from other parts of the country so that they can see and learn because when it is executed in every parish the resources will be split right across the country.
“So, it is important that we use this as a teaching moment and a learning moment. I think today was better than the last one because we learnt from the first one,” added Dr Tufton.
The COVID-19 vaccination blitz is a plan to mass administer the jab to 1,000 people in a day at a single location.
Plans are in place for another 25 vaccination blitzes over the next three months.
The locations for the vaccination blitzes scheduled for the weekend of April 9 will include the National Arena in Kingston and St Andrew; Celebration Church, Portmore, St Catherine; the Social Development Commission office, St Thomas; Montego Bay Convention Centre, St James; Lucea Anglican Church, Hanover; Denbigh Show Ground, Clarendon; St Mark’s Anglican Parish Church, Manchester; St Matthews Anglican Parish Church, St Elizabeth; Bahia Principe Resort, St Ann; Trelawny Multi-Purpose Centre, Trelawny; Gayle Civic Centre, St Mary; and Folly Oval, Portland.
Arthur Hall
