Vaccine mandate likely for infirmaries

The Government is considering a vaccine requirement for new entrants to the island's infirmaries. Admissions to the poor relief facilities were suspended last March as part of the move by the Government to limit the spread of COVID-19. However, that policy is being reviewed.

Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Desmond McKenzie, who has portfolio responsibility for the Poor Relief Department, said that more than 300 Jamaicans are waiting to be admitted to state-run infirmaries. He said that inoculation against COVID-19 is being considered as a requirement for admission.

"What we are looking to do is that once we start to readmit persons to the infirmaries, one of the conditions that will be laid out is that new cases coming into the infirmaries must be fully vaccinated before they are admitted," he said in an interview with JIS News.

"We have to do that to safeguard the population in our infirmaries," McKenzie added.

The minister said that 70 per cent of the island's infirmary staff has already been vaccinated, and every effort is being made to get the remaining 30 per cent on board.

He said that the ministry is also looking at allowing visits to facilities by fully vaccinated family members during the Christmas season.

"Last year, we partnered with Digicel and we used technology as a means of allowing loved ones to communicate with their relatives inside of the infirmaries. This year, we are looking to see if we can do it on a limited, face-to-face basis, once we have agreed... where people, who would want to visit their relatives in the infirmaries ... must be fully vaccinated," he said.