Health Ministry satisfied with day-one vaccinations, despite missed target
/ Our Today
administrator
Jamaica fell short of its first-day target for COVID-19 vaccinations on Wednesday, but health authorities yesterday gave themselves a pat on the back for inoculating 2,718 persons, which represented 83 per cent of their goal.
Addressing a COVID Conversations virtual press briefing on Thursday, Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton said the aim had been to inoculate approximately 3,280 members of the priority group of primarily healthcare workers.
The COVID-19 Vaccine Implementation Programme started at 8:00 a.m. and shut down its first day around 10:00 p.m. Wednesday.
“We started [inoculating with the vaccine] exactly one year after the first COVID case was discovered, March 10, 2020. We started the vaccination programme on March 10, 2021, a real significant occurrence and coincidentally so… one year we have been at it, and we are now embracing vaccines as an important part of a response to COVID,” Tufton said.
“We had 39 vaccination sites across the island… 33 were originally planned, but for whatever reason, the regions adjusted, so we actually exceeded the number of sites that were originally planned.”
REVIEW TO DETERMINE WHY TARGETS MISSED
He said though he felt the first-day results were commendable, there would be a review to determine the cause where targets were missed.
Tufton said the western region exceeded its target of 530 by inoculating some 804 persons, which represents 152 per cent of their target.
With the first-day numbers from the Jamaica Defence Force’s (JDF) vaccination programme not yet in, the health ministry still expects to get up to 89 per cent of the Wednesday target.
During day-one vaccinations, there were 12 incidents of patients suffering side effects, including one case of vomiting, a number of cases of dizziness and one case of swelling.
However, after additional observation or treatment, all patients were able to leave a short time later.
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