Gov’t Engages Private Sector In Vaccine Delivery

The Ministry of Health and Wellness is seeking to engage private interests in the delivery of vaccines as it looks to ramp up the number of Jamaicans, who are inoculated against the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Speaking in the House of Representatives on September 15, Prime Minister, the Most. Hon. Andrew Holness, said that the private sector has been invited, through a request for quotation (RFQ), to participate in the national vaccination programme. 

He said that the RFQ sets out the criteria in terms of personnel, infrastructure and protocols that must be in place.

“Basically, the RFQ is inviting entities to submit proposals setting out how much they would charge the Ministry to administer each dose of the vaccine. Let me be clear that it is the Government, who would be paying these private-sector entities to administer the vaccines. The citizens receiving the vaccines will not be charged. This is a major development which the Ministry of Health and Wellness is leading,” Mr. Holness noted.

“What essentially this does is to engage private persons, private entities to deliver the vaccine. So, all the effort that the Ministry is making, the private entity will take it on. They will use the standards set by the Ministry of Health in terms of the management of the cold chain, how the vaccines are delivered, the observation, having the emergency response if there is need for such,” he further outlined.

He said that, hopefully, the procurement process will go quickly, “and we should be able to have private-sector entities delivering vaccines and thereby increasing the capacity of the Government”.

Meanwhile, the Government is also looking to recruit retired health personnel to administer the vaccines. 

“We will be launching a national call for vaccinators, and this is not just in Jamaica; we are calling on the huge resource that we have in our diaspora. In fact, many of our nurses who have left here have gone to the United States and the United Kingdom to work, and now would be an excellent opportunity for them to come back and participate in this national vaccination programme,” Mr. Holness said.