The first set of COVID-19 vaccines will arrive on April 21 | New

Jamaica is scheduled to start receiving COVID-19 vaccines from the COVID-19 Global Vaccine Access Center (COVAX) on April 21, 2021.

The announcement was made in the House of Representatives by the Minister of Health and Welfare, Dr Christopher Tufton, a short time ago.

The COVAX facility is designed to accelerate equitable access for countries around the world to safe COVID-19 vaccines.

Jamaica is among six members of the Caribbean Public Health Agency who have received the full down payment required for the COVAX installation.

Tufton told Parliament that 292,399 doses of the vaccine, which is enough for five percent of the population, will be delivered in April.

Top the list are healthcare workers, members of the Jamaican Police Force, members of the Jamaican Defense Force, prison officers, customs immigration officers, parliamentarians, nurses and the elderly. to receive the hits first.

The vaccine should be given in two doses, which will be given weeks apart.

The remaining doses are expected to arrive in Jamaica on July 21 and December 21.

At the end of this period, 16% of the population should be vaccinated with COVAX.

Vaccination sites will be set up at West Indies University Hospital, Bustamante Children’s Hospital, National Thorax Hospital, Spanish Town Hospital, Mandeville Regional Hospital, Cornwall Regional Hospital and St Ann’s Bay Regional Hospital for frontline staff.

Some health centers are also being considered for use as vaccination sites.

Although the vaccines are expected to arrive in Jamaica in three months, countries like the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom have already started vaccinating their populations.

Their dependent territories also received doses.

This has led to outrage from the head of the World Health Organization that poorer countries could be left to suffer as the pandemic prevails.

Tufton also announced that Jamaica would look to Cuba and India for additional vaccines.

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