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JN rolls into Manchester with vax drive

Published:Wednesday | November 24, 2021 | 12:06 AM
A resident receives a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at the Petersfield Primary School in Westmoreland recently. The vaccination site was organised by the JN Foundation, with support from American Friends of Jamaica, where residents received first and second d
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A resident receives a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at the Petersfield Primary School in Westmoreland recently. The vaccination site was organised by the JN Foundation, with support from American Friends of Jamaica, where residents received first and second doses of AstraZeneca, and the single-dose vaccine Johnson & Johnson. The JN Foundation will be taking its immunisation drive to Manchester today and next Tuesday in Mandeville and Plowden.

Following a drive in Petersfield, Westmoreland, which resulted in nearly 200 persons receiving a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, the JN Foundation is back on the road with its ‘Immunise… Save Lives’ campaign and will making two stops in Manchester today and November 30.

The Foundation will be administering the three available vaccines - AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer (for children 12 to 17 years and adults over 50 years) - at the Bishop Gibson High School, Newleigh Road, Mandeville, on Wednesday, October 24, and then at the Port Mahoe Seventh-day Adventist Church in Plowden district, southern Manchester, next Tuesday. Both events will begin at 9 a.m. and close at 4 p.m.

“We’re continuing with our message and the initiatives so that, not if, but when the fourth wave comes, we will be better prepared as a country; and we won’t have to return to the chaotic scenes of August and September, when our hospitals were running out of oxygen and beds,” commented Claudine Allen, general manager, JN Foundation.

“We want to get back to our good old Jamaican life.”

Among rural parishes, Manchester has the third-highest incidence of COVID-19 infections since the pandemic began in March 2020. It had registered nearly 6,000 cases up to November 19.

Persons are being encouraged to register ahead of visiting the vaccination sites on November 24 and 30, although walk-ins will be accepted, Allen said.

“You can register via the MOHW’s website, www.moh.gov.jm, and be assured that you will be processed faster than if you had just walked in,” Allen said.

Persons should take along with them a national ID, such as their driver’s licence, passport or voter registration card. If they don’t have a national ID, they can take a letter signed and sealed by a justice of the peace validating their identity.

“As we did in Westmoreland, we are again working alongside a few churches, our JN Circle networks, and other institutions to arrange transportation for those who may need the assistance to get to the site,” Allen disclosed.

She reminded residents that they can also benefit from a JN Money Card topped up with $2,500 if they upload a photo of their vaccination card on the JN Foundation website after being immunised. All they need to do is visit www.jnfoundation.com/immunisation, scroll down, and click the image ‘Immunise and Win’ to complete the brief form and upload the image of their card.

Allen said persons will be on site to assist with signing up for the rewards.

Manchester residents and JN members in Manchester can listen out for more details about the vaccination sites on the airwaves and from town criers in their communities, as well as via email and text message.