The first set of Jamaicans to be vaccinated against COVID-19 will get the jab by next year April. Starting the process that will take nearly eight months will be fewer than 4,500 people. The numbers should grow to about 450,000 by the end of the year.
The Government says the projection is for some 16 percent of the population to be vaccinated in the first instance. Health Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton told the House of Representatives, Tuesday that the projected schedule is to have the vaccination ready for administration to about one percent of the sixteen percent of the population by April 20 21, with another three percent (of the 16%) by mid-2021 and the rest of that selected number by the end of the year.
Jamaica is to get its vaccine through a COVAX facility through a down payment made by the Caribbean Public Health Agency, CARPHA. The vaccine is not the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine now being used in the United Kingdom.
A COVID-19 Vaccine Commission has been named and will make its plans known.
