THOUSANDS of fully vaccinated Jamaicans 60 years and over who applied for the Conditional Cash Transfer for the Vaccinated Grant will receive payments in a few days.

“We expect [$10,000] payments to be made by the first week in September for those who applied up to the middle of August. On average, expect 45 days for validation and processing,” Minister of Finance and the Public Service Dr Nigel Clarke told the Jamaica Observer.

According to data from the finance ministry, a total of 36,414 seniors — 21,265 women and 15,149 men —applied for the grant, for which applications were open on July 15 to August 17. The parish of Clarendon had the highest number of applicants with 6,674, followed by Hanover with 6,292. St Elizabeth had 3,860, Trelawny 2,808, and St Andrew 2,758.

The seniors would have had to have been vaccinated through the Ministry of Health and Wellness to receive their cash under an initiative designed to encourage vaccine uptake.

The programme was administered digitally using the COVID-19 Allocation of Resources for Employees (CARE) Programme platform, and payments will be made through commercial banks, remittance agencies, or third party collection.

Asked how much more efficient the issuing of payments to applicants of the conditional cash transfer is, when compared to the We CARE Compassionate Grant, where some Jamaicans who signed up did not collect the cash, especially from remittance companies, Clarke said applicants can choose other methods to receive payments.

“We had some challenges last year as some applicants entered bank accounts that were not functional, entered bank accounts in the names of relatives, and for some applicants the name on the bank account did not match names on the applications,” he said.

“We have stressed the importance of accuracy in banking information for the vaccine incentive and advised that if in doubt opt to receive the incentive by remittance company,” he added.

Said Clarke: “The vaccine incentive is sent to the individual’s bank account for individuals who indicated they wish to receive their incentive there. Collection issues do not arise in this scenario. For those who opt to have their vaccine incentive sent to a remittance company we give a very long time for the incentive to be collected. If after that long time it is not collected then the remittance company is obligated to return the funds to the GOJ [Government of Jamaica].”

For applicants who are physically unable to get to the remittance companies, third party collection will be accommodated.

The third party must have in his or her possession, at the time of collection, a signed letter of authorisation stamped by a justice of the peace and a valid government-issued identification of the applicant.

— BRITTNY HUTCHINSON