Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, is appealing for more teachers and school administrators to get the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine in order to ensure that schools can return to face-to-face learning in short order.

Speaking at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information’s Virtual Town Hall on Friday (June 11), the Prime Minister said that the level of take-up of the vaccine at this time is not sufficient to put Jamaica on a firm path to reopen schools for in-person classes.

 “I want to take the opportunity to appeal to the leaders of the teaching profession and to the teachers themselves that we will not be able to return to face-to-face education with confidence if we do not have a sufficiently high level of teachers vaccinated,” he said.

            The Prime Minister thanked those teachers who have already taken the vaccine, which, he noted, amounts to about 40 per cent of the 19,000 teachers registered in the education system. 

                        “We have targeted 65 per cent of the population for herd immunity, but we would like to see upwards of 80 per cent of our teachers vaccinated. Particularly, we would like to see those teachers who are in the vulnerable age range vaccinated,” Mr. Holness said. 

            He pointed out that the risk of a fatal event rises “very rapidly” for infected persons over age 60.

“So teachers who are closer to 60 or past 60, who are still operating in the system… we urge you to get vaccinated,” he said.