Gov’t To Focus On Vaccine Encouragement

The Government will be focused on encouragement rather than coercion, as it looks to increase take-up of the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines, says Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Information, Hon. Robert Morgan.

Jamaica has administered more than 1,288,073 doses of COVID vaccines to date.

“There is no shortage of access to vaccines. One of the things that we have to do, as a Government, is we are now going to have to change the way how we communicate about vaccination and be more intent on encouraging as [many] Jamaicans as possible to get vaccinated. We can’t force them to do it,” Mr. Morgan said.

He was speaking in an interview on Nationwide News Network on Thursday (January 27).

On the matter of the Government’s intention to remove more COVID-19 restrictions, Minister Morgan said that “if we continue locking down the country, we are going to have to start sending home people because we would not be able to pay them”.

He noted that for more than two years, Jamaicans have had to put up with some of the most challenging circumstances brought about by the pandemic and “we have to move towards a new direction”,

“That is the ethos of the Government and that is what we are trying to do. We ask that the people understand, we ask that they appreciate what we are doing, because we are communicating more with them now and we are trying to bring them on as stronger partners in any decision that we are making,” Mr. Morgan said.

On the issue of incentivising persons to get vaccinated, the Minister said that the suggestion is reasonable, as persons who have done the right thing to protect their health and that of the society should be rewarded.

He noted, however, that “policies don’t just occur; you have to analyse the situation and the circumstances, and you make a reasonable decision as to what you want to do”.