In an effort to achieve its mandate of vaccinating 65 per cent of the Jamaican population by March 31, 2022, the government of Jamaica has secured close to one and a half million doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to bolster its inoculation programme.

Given the nature of the Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine, it is anticipated that the arrival of these doses will significantly boost the country’s vaccine implementation programme, providing sufficient jabs to vaccinate almost half of the country’s total population.

To date, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine remains the only single-dose COVID-19 vaccine that has been approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization (WHO).

As a result, National Health Fund Chairman Howard Mitchell said that he would like to have a large volume of these vaccines being administered among the populace as soon as batch deliveries begin in August, so as to re-energise the tourism economy.

As of Friday, May 28, 2021, some 155,683 Jamaicans had been inoculated with the first jab of the AstraZeneca vaccine representing just eight per cent of the targeted population.

As more countries begin to loosen COVID-19 restrictions due to high vaccination rates, many are hopeful that the incoming vaccine shipments will act as a saving grace to Jamaica’s flailing economy.