In keeping with the health ministry’s mandate to bring COVID-19 vaccines to the people, Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn, state minister for health and wellness, will on Thursday (August 12) lend her support to the community-based vaccination efforts set to take place in her St Andrew West Rural constituency.

This comes as the South East Regional Health Authority establishes mobile vaccination sites at Stony Hill High School and the Oberlin High School between 10:00 am to 3:00 pm on Thursday.

Speaking on the importance of the community-based vaccination programme, Cuthbert-Flynn said: “There are growing numbers of COVID-19 infections and associated increases in hospitalisations and death associated with this disease. We must disrupt that trend.”

She continued: “We are, therefore, making vaccinations available to the people where they are. We are also making ourselves available to answer any queries people may have that take them closer to a decision to vaccinate. I implore our people to take advantage of these opportunities so that we can get back to life.”

The set-up of the mobile sites in Cuthbert-Flynn’s constituency comes as the Ministry of Health and Wellness seeks to enhance islandwide efforts to prevent illness and death associated with COVID-19.

Islandwide vaccinations resumed on Monday (August 9), following a marathon blitz effort the week before that yielded more than 63,000 vaccinations of Jamaicans 18 years and older.

The health ministry is seeking to administer some 700,000 doses of the vaccine by the end of September, in pursuit of the target to have 65 per cent of the Jamaican population vaccinated by March 2022.

There is no appointment requirement to become vaccinated at a mobile site. Members of the public are, however, encouraged to turn up with their TRN and government-issued identification or a letter from a justice of the peace.

To access routine vaccination sites, members of the public are asked to make their appointments online at https://www.moh.gov.jm or call the Vaccination Call Centre at 888-ONE-LOVE (888-663-5683).

Once persons have received their appointment confirmation, they are to visit their vaccination site on time and with their TRN and government-issued identification or letter from a Justice of the Peace.

The health ministry continues to urge members of the public to stay vigilant in their practice of infection prevention and control measures, notably, mask-wearing, maintaining a physical distancing from others and frequently washing and/or sanitising hands.