Teachers and hotel workers have now been added to the categories of persons who will receive the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine being given across the island.

The priority group for vaccination was persons 75 years and older, and on April 8 it was changed to include persons 60 and older.

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton, gave this update on Thursday at the Norman Manley International Airport after the arrival of Jamaica’s third shipment of the AstraZeneca vaccine, comprising 75,000 doses.

This was donated by the Government and people of South Africa through the African Medical Supply Platform.

“This shipment is going to be used for our [vaccination] blitz exercise. The intention is to inoculate as many persons as possible, hopefully well over 50,000. We are doing 60 years and over, and we are including now our teachers, and we are also including our hotel workers,” Minister Tufton said.
“Why our teachers? Because we have to start planning to get back into the classroom, and our children are waiting on that, and we are anxious as a Government to ensure that the education system begins to function in the normal way,” he said.

Dr Tufton previously announced that vaccines under the African Medical Supply Platform had been approved and a total of 1.8 million doses of the vaccine are to be supplied to Jamaica starting April 2021.

“We have another shipment coming in this month from COVAX; approximately 50,000 doses should come in about the third week of April,” he said.