Persons 75 Years And Older Can Get Appointments For COVID-19 Vaccines As Of March 22

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, has said that as of Monday (March 22), persons 75 years and older will be able to set appointments to receive coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines by calling the 888-ONE-LOVE telephone number.

Dr. Tufton was speaking at the signing of a Vaccine Implementation contract with itelbpo smart solutions on Thursday (March 18) at the offices of the Ministry of Health and Wellness in New Kingston.

“We start with the 75 years and over, so if you’re 75 years old and over, if your mother is 75 years old and over, your father, your uncle, your brother, and you want to help them… come Monday, you call this number and you will get on the other end, a response,” Dr. Tufton said.

He also instructed that persons should not attempt to make appointments by calling the number until the web-based appointment system is launched on Monday.

Through this contract, itelbpo will be responsible for providing outsourced call-in assistance services for those who require help with registration for vaccination appointments across the island.

This adds to an agreement that was signed recently with UNICEF regarding the software platform that will allow persons to register online and to provide two-way information for clarity to be brought to the appointment process and follow-up process.

“In another few weeks or so, you will see that up and running, and persons who are technologically savvy can access the appointment process through that means, no matter where in Jamaica you are,” he said.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, itelbpo smart solutions, Yoni Epstein, said they are pleased to partner with the Government for this initiative.

“We have been supporting the Ministry of Health [and Wellness] with the One Love hotline since we were first called in March of 2020 to support individuals who needed to understand more about the pandemic, more about the virus,” Mr. Epstein said.

“We’ve had about 30 people supporting this programme over the past 12 months. It has done well, and it has been an honour to serve the nation. It has also helped us in the heights of the pandemic last year when the BPO industry was shut down for 14 days and a lot of our travel-related clients also shut down, and we were able to keep people employed versus laying them off,” he said.

The Government started its vaccination programme on Wednesday (March 10), after the 50,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines donated by the Government of India arrived in Jamaica on March 8. The Government also received a shipment of 14,400 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines under the COVAX Facility on March 15.