ST JAMES, Jamaica— The Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA) is reporting a high uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine yesterday except for one of four parishes within the region.

The Western Region comprises the parishes of Hanover, St James, Trelawny and Westmoreland.

Errol Greene, Regional Director, WRHA, said all parishes did well except for Hanover.

“We can say the same thing (good outturn) has been going on across the Western Region. In fact, in Hanover, the team is there sitting with nothing to do because the take-up for Hanover was not as we would have expected, certainly up until midday,” stated Greene.

Dr Kaushal Singh, Medical Officer of Health for Hanover told the OBSERVER ONLINE yesterday that at the close of the three vaccination blitz sites in the parish at 5:00 pm, only 312 of the 750 people who were expected to be inoculated had taken up the offer.

Dr Singh said the Hanover Health Department will be extending the blitz until April 13 for people with disabilities, hypertension, and are over the age of 60. He said the department will be targeting some 450 people from Lucea and Sandy Bay health centres.

Following this, the vaccination programme will extend from five health centres across the parish. These are Hopewell, Lucea, Green Island, Ramble and Sandy Bay.

Meanwhile, Greene said the WRHA will be working with key stakeholders in the parish to ensure an improvement in the uptake numbers.

“We are working with the members of parliament, the local authority, we are working with the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association, we are working with the Jamaica Teachers’ Association and teachers, we are working with church groups and the other interested groups to ensure we get those respective persons in the respective target groups,” Greene said in response to queries from OBSERVER ONLINE yesterday.

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton noted that while some areas have been oversubscribed such as the National Arena in Kingston, Manchester High School in Manchester and Bahia Principe Hotels & Resorts in St Ann, there are other areas that have recorded less than was planned for.

“At the end of the day, we are going to look at the numbers. Look at where they are. Sometimes it is a matter of logistics too in terms of where the centres are located. So, we tweaked it as we go along and then make a determination. So, I will be in a better position later on today to determine whether it was a success or not,” said Dr Tufton.

For his part, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett pointed out that some hotel workers are on the morning shift while the business opening hours were between 7:00 and 12 noon which could have impacted the number of persons available to take up the vaccine.

Anthony Lewis