Pretesting Not Required for COVID-19 Vaccination

Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Jacquiline Bisasor-McKenzie, is reminding Jamaicans that pretesting for the coronavirus (COVID-19) is not required before vaccination.

“However, we are advising persons [who] have been exposed [and] have tested positive for the infection to wait until they have recovered from the acute illness [to be vaccinated],” she said.

She said that these persons must also meet the isolation criterion of 14 days.

Dr.  Bisasor- McKenzie, who was addressing the Ministry of Health and Wellness’ weekly virtual COVID Conversations press briefing on September 9, said that “clinical trial results have shown that people with previous COVID-19 infections can be vaccinated safely”.

She further informed that receiving the vaccine will not make an individual test positive for the virus.