Outside-the-box thinking required to drive vaccination campaign
Dear Editor,
We are currently in a rut with our vaccination programme. While many private sector entities make an effort to offer incentives to improve our vaccination rate, I believe more can be done by the Government, which is the largest business entity in Jamaica.
The Ministry of Transport and Mining, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Justice can become key players in the drive to get more Jamaicans vaccinated.
The Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Finance should go about authorising a ticket amnesty during this period. To be eligible to have overdue tickets cleared without facing a judge, you must show proof of vaccination. An effort like this works two-fold — it encourages vaccination, while also injecting much-needed cash into the finance ministry to assist with the current social expenditure. Our taxi and bus operators are usually the main culprits when it comes to the having overdue tickets and this action would effectively offer some protection to the operators and industry that contributes to the high number of novel coronavirus infections.
Also, the Ministry of Finance has set aside money to offer social assistance to those affected most by the novel coronavirus pandemic. I believe no one who qualifies to receive a vaccine should be assisted until we confirm that they have been vaccinated.
The Ministry of Justice should also find a way to get involved and offer sentence reductions and suspended sentences for non-violent criminal offences in our courts in return for proof of vaccination.
There may be no avenue under the law for this type of action within our current legal framework. But my answer to that is: Create it!
We are already in need of a system that gives special consideration to people involved in criminal activity in return for information. We are in unconventional times, we need new and unconventional ideas.
I commend our health-care workers for their efforts so far. We owe it to them to make every effort to ease their burden.
Adrean Gentles
gentlesadrean123@gmail.com
