St. Elizabeth Records 25% Vaccination Rate

The St. Elizabeth Health Services has reported that approximately 25 per cent of the parish’s population has been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Medical Officer of Health, St. Elizabeth Health Services, Dr. Tonia Dawkins-Beharie, made the disclosure while addressing Thursday’s (March 10) monthly meeting of the St. Elizabeth Municipal Corporation, in Black River.

“Our COVID-19 vaccination programme continues, and we have vaccinated over 80,000 persons in this parish and our vaccination coverage is a little over 25 per cent,” Dr. Dawkins-Beharie outlined.

She said that this places St. Elizabeth as having the highest COVID-19 vaccination coverage in the region and the fourth highest in the country.

Dr. Dawkins-Beharie, however, indicated that more needs to be done to increase coverage in the parish, and the country by extension, because COVID-19 remains a treat to the life and livelihood of Jamaicans.

“So, we still have a far way to go but comparatively, we are not doing so bad. We are seeing a trending down of cases, and the hospitals are not overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases at this point in time,” she added.

In the meantime, Dr. Dawkins-Beharie said from the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak in Jamaica, St. Elizabeth has had 5,465 confirmed cases, 5,117 persons have recovered, there are 17 active cases, and 331 persons have died.

Of those who died, 284 have been confirmed to be related to COVID-19, 17 have been deemed coincidental, and 30 remain under investigation.

“I encourage persons to continue to practise some basic infection prevention control measures, such as washing hands, wearing masks and maintaining physical distance,” Dr. Dawkins-Beharie urged.