PM Highlights Importance Of NIDS

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, used the occasion of receiving the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine to advocate for the National Identification System (NIDS), noting that the registration process to receive the jab would have been much easier for Jamaicans under NIDS.

Mr. Holness was speaking to journalists after getting his first shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine at The Good Samaritan’s Inn in Kingston on Monday (March 22).

The Prime Minister’s wife and Member of Parliament for East Rural St. Andrew, Mrs. Juliet Holness, was also inoculated.

Mr. Holness, in noting the registration process at the vaccination facilities, which involves filling out a form with several questions, said that the procedure would have been shorter and smoother had NIDS been in place.

“If we had the NIDS, then all that would happen is, you come in, just show your card and all that data captured would then go into the vaccination database. It would take maybe two or three [or] four minutes off the process time,” Mr. Holness said.

“This means that you could have a throughput that is 20 per cent higher than what it is now,” he added.

NIDS will provide a comprehensive and secure structure to enable the collection and storage of identity information.

This secure, voluntary tool can also verify an individual’s identity, facilitate the electronic signing of documents and securely access a range of government services online.

Enrolment under the NIDS is being targeted for commencement in September 2021.

The proposed National Identification and Registration Act, 2020, to facilitate the introduction of NIDS, is being reviewed by a Joint Select Committee of Parliament.