Several Jamaican hotels have signed a program led by the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), which will see them work with the Jamaican government to pay for COVID-19 vaccines.
Clifton Reader, president of the JHTA, has informed the government of the willingness of several hotels to voluntarily fund vaccines for their staff.
READ: Jamaica is looking for more COVID vaccines to Cuba, India, China
‘We have a growing list of members committed to working with the government to get as many people vaccinated as possible. Of course, we focus especially on the thousands of team members in the hospitality and tourism industry, many of whom are breadwinners for their families and the pillars of their communities. “Our goal is to buy the vaccines and make them available to those who want to take them,” Reader said.
He reiterated that it would not be mandatory for staff members to be vaccinated.
Noted by the Minister of Health, dr. Chris Tufton’s recent reports on Jamaica’s challenges with access to COVID vaccines due to the limited availability of approved sources, Reader said ‘the JHTA hopes that new sources will soon be available to us, and with our help from the private sector will give Jamaica a significantly increased supply of vaccines. ”
The government has targeted about 480,000 Jamaicans (16 percent) to be vaccinated under the COVAX facility by 2021.
“The idea is to see to what extent any government-to-government arrangement allows us to access some of their vaccines from the countries where manufacturing takes place,” Tufton said. The Gleaner recently.
The minister said the government was trying to obtain safe vaccinations from China, India and Cuba to protect the population from the virus.
Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or send an email to [email protected] or [email protected].