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Health ministry launches COVID vaccination education website

Published:Wednesday | August 18, 2021 | 12:08 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
An employee sorts vials of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine inside a laboratory at the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine maker.
AP
An employee sorts vials of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine inside a laboratory at the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine maker.

WESTERN BUREAU:

The Ministry of Health and Wellness has launched its official COVID-19 vaccination website, which will provide critical information for persons seeking clarity on the protocols and queries surrounding the ongoing drive to achieve herd immunity through inoculation.

During the most recent ‘COVID Conversation’ press briefing on Thursday, Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton urged Jamaicans to make full use of the information provided on the website, www.vaccination.moh.gov.jm, and to share the information with others.

“As part of the effort to ensure that Jamaicans have the information that they need to feel comfortable to become vaccinated, we want to present our new vaccination website, www.vaccination.moh.gov.jm. We encourage those who are sufficiently techno-savvy to visit that site, get information, and use that information as necessary to overcome any objections, challenges, concerns, or queries,” Tufton told the briefing.

“We are asking those who can, to visit the site, gather the information from the site, and see it as part of your civic duty to relay that information to persons who you know cannot do so. This is a national mobilisation programme, and what the site is there to do is to provide information to those who can access it,” added Tufton.

The website provides details on how COVID-19 vaccines work, as well as the different vaccine brands that are currently available and the myths and facts surrounding the vaccination process. It also has an up-to-date tracker on how many vaccines have been distributed in Jamaica to date, and provides links for making vaccination appointments.

Meanwhile, in addressing concerns about the lack of publicised information on all possible side effects of different vaccine brands, Chief Medical Officer Dr Jacqueline Bisasor-McKenzie said that links to the vaccine brands’ product information are available on the website.

“I am advised that the link is already there for the product information [about vaccines], and I will verify it myself and look to ensure that all of those possible side effects are there. Also, for workplace protocols, those would have been circulated for some time, and they are available on our website and you can have a look at them,” said Bisasor-McKenzie.

The website’s launch is part of the latest thrust to inoculate Jamaicans against the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Ministry of Health aiming to administer 700,000 vaccines by the end of September. So far, 391,076 vaccine doses have been administered.

Additionally, Jamaica is expecting to receive 200,000 Pfizer and 118,000 Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses in the coming week, to supplement the AstraZeneca vaccines that are currently in stock.