COVID vaccination opens this weekend for people 18 and over

Christopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:
Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton has announced that as of tomorrow Jamaicans 18 and over will be able to make appointments for COVID-19 vaccines.

They may make the appointment via the health ministry's website for their first and second dose.

Speaking during the virtual COVID Conversations, Tufton said the Government was in a race to inoculate as many people as possible.

Some 300,000 doses of the vaccine are to arrive in Jamaica from the United Kingdom on Friday and the Health Ministry aims to distribute 150,000 within the first week.

By the end of September, some 1.4 million doses are expected.

Tufton is asserting that persons who do not get vaccinated against COVID-19 cannot expect to be treated similarly to those who are inoculated.

"It is a logical and fundamental principle,” the minister said.

Teachers have been frowning at Monday's comments by Prime Minister Andrew Holness that educators who are vaccinated against COVID-19 may receive preferential treatment over their colleagues who do not take the vaccine.

According to Tufton, to give equal treatment to vaccinated and unvaccinated persons would mean putting persons at greater risk for the spread of COVID-19.

“You cannot have a society where a clear and present danger is represented by a virus which can claim your life or the lives of others, and you have persons who observe the protocols to include taking the vaccine, and you expect those who do not do so to be given the exact same treatment,” said Tufton.

Jamaica has recorded 52,504 infections since March last year when the first case was detected.

Some 1,182 have died.

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