Jamaica’s MOH Begins House to House Vaccination

At least nine health departments across the island have commenced house to house vaccination in a bid to boost COVID-19 vaccine take-up, in deep rural areas, that are not close to fixed sites.

The Health Ministry says teams, including public health nurses and community health aides from Hanover, Manchester, St. Elizabeth, Trelawny, Westmoreland, St. Ann, St. Mary, Portland, and St. Thomas have been deployed to communities to administer COVID-19 vaccines to shut-ins, the disabled and elderly.

The Ministry says the initiative represents another phase in the national vaccination efforts and is in keeping with the principles of the programme, which include developing appropriate deployment strategies and distribution infrastructure to ensure access to the priority populations.

Health Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton is urging persons who are unable to reach vaccination sites to contact their parish health departments for support- or details on House to House Vaccination. 

Currently, there are two vaccine brands in the country: AstraZeneca and the single-dose Johnson and Johnson. 

Up to 2:00 p.m. Sunday, October 24, a total of eight hundred and ninety-three thousand, six hundred and ninety-six (893,696) doses of vaccines had been administered, of that number, five hundred and thirty-three thousand, nine hundred and sixty-seven (533,967) were first doses, three hundred and fifteen thousand, and thirty-six (315,036) were second doses and forty-four thousand, six hundred and ninety-three (44,693) were single doses.