Jamaica on Friday (July 30) saw its largest shipment of coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines to date, with the arrival of the United Kingdom government’s donation of 300,000 doses of AstraZeneca.

The vaccines, which landed at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston aboard a British Airways flight yesterday afternoon, are to be deployed to public health institutions islandwide to bolster the Government’s COVID-19 vaccination programme.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness and UK High Commissioner to Jamaica Asif Ahmad and other officials were on hand to receive the vaccines.

The shipment is the UK’s first to any country globally under a commitment given by Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a Group of Seven (G7) nations meeting in June.

Holness said the arrival of the vaccines marked a “wonderful day in our bilateral relations” and described the UK as a “longstanding friend and partner”.

Ahmad, in his remarks, noted that “[as] a public servant, there is nothing finer that we can do, than to do something that saves lives”, noting that the donation of the 300,000 vaccines “is something extraordinary”.

“But this is not the end. At the end of this year, we will send another significant shipment of vaccines to Jamaica and other friends around the world. I urge everybody here to take advantage of this donation [and] have a very simple message to our friends in Jamaica… get the [jab],” he said.

UK A CRITICAL COMMONWEALTH FRIEND

For her part, Johnson Smith said the Government is pleased that its UK counterparts deemed it fit to donate the vaccines.

“The UK is not only a strong and historical bilateral partner, but certainly, a critical Commonwealth friend and one with whom we engage on developmental issues on a consistent basis,” she noted.

Johnson Smith also thanked Ahmad and UK Minister Tariq Ahmad, who has responsibility for relations with the Caribbean and Commonwealth, for their roles in facilitating the vaccine donation.

“We commend the UK for following through on their promise, just issued in June this year, to the G7 to ensure that nine million vaccines are donated globally, bilaterally and through [the] COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) Facility,” Johnson Smith said.

In the meantime, Tufton said the UK’s gesture represented a “major breakthrough” for the public health system, and, by extension, the Government “in our drive to respond to COVID-19 through the vaccination programme”.