Chief Medical Officer Says Jamaica Might Not Reach Vaccination Target

On Tuesday the number of positive cases for Covid-19 in Jamaica reached 91,578, with 2415 deaths, and the country’s chief medical officer Jacqueline Bisasor-Mckenzie had much to say in concern of the current situation and whether the Government will be able to meet their goal of 65 percent herd vaccination by March of 2022.

Bisasor-Mckenzie gave her perspective on the matter yesterday at the Gleaner Editors forum held at the Jamaica Pegasus where she expressed much disappointment towards the current vaccination numbers.

This according to the chief medical officer might just force the Government to push back their goal as it is evident at this time that there is a fall off from the initial objective even though efforts are still being made to uphold the plan and so she urged the importance of getting the vaccination message out.

At this time the number of persons who have gotten the jab has reached 530,000 with 1.1 million doses of the vaccine injected.

Where the new variant of the virus called Omicron is concerned Bisasor-Mckenzie encouraged persons to get vaccinated since the emergence of the new strain puts Jamaica under the threat of experiencing a 4th wave, which she spoke about as a serious issue due to the vulnerability of the population.

As such the chief medical officer made it clear that the health measures put in place to help stop the spread of the virus such as sanitization, social distancing, and the wearing of masks are still in place and should be followed.

In terms of the CMO’s preparations for the possible new wave, Bisasor-Mckenzie stated that hospitals are being equipped so that they will have ready access to all supplies required including oxygen, for which she explained that the organization has a plan in place to boost or supplement the production locally.