The Jamaican Government has no plans to make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory
August 23, 2021 | Zhane Squire |
The Prime Minister Andrew Holness at a recent virtual press conference on Monday (August 9) used the opportunity to address the nations rapid increase in COVID-19 numbers. While reassuring the citizens of Jamaica that the Government’s actions and decisions to lock down the entertainment sector and implement tighter curfew restrictions is within the country’s best interest and and needed to regain a grasp on the COVID-19 spread. At the same time the PM stated “the Government has no intentions of making the vaccination mandatory.” He further stated “As it stands now, and we have discussed it in Cabinet, the Government is not thinking about, nor inclined to mandate any vaccines. In fact, we don’t believe that is something that would meet the constitutional test,”
With this critical decision the recovering process lies solely within the hands of the citizens of Jamaica and whether or not they decide to take the vaccine. The Government believes that this will speed up the recovering process of the nation to achieve some form of normalization in the near future.
Launching continuous campaigns to engage, inform and encourage persons to take the vaccine the PM stated the following.
“I am going to be hitting the road. I am going to go into the nooks and crannies, I will go about asking you to preserve your lives and livelihoods and to encourage you to take the vaccine,”
The Government’s objective is not to force the issue but ensure that approved vaccines are widely available to persons that are interested in preserving their lives and livelihood.
“We understand the high level of suspicion about vaccines in our country. So when we go to the public to say ‘take the vaccines’, we are confident that we are giving you the best vaccines that are available, we have ensured that whenever vaccines are available in Jamaica, they meet the highest standards of approval and we have not brought in any vaccines unless they were first of all World Health Organization (WHO) approved,” The Prime Minister said.
SOURCE Office of the Prime Minister
