Covid-Vaccination Chaos In Jamaica

TVJ news video screen capture

I am not close to what is happening to the government of Jamaica vaccination programme, but based on what I saw on the media over the weekend, things could be better handled.  If we continue like this then it will make the dedicated  Minister of Health look bad and it will tarnish the image of the Prime Minister who has already started to lose some of his political sheen. 

TVJ news video screen capture

The government should have appointed a project team headed by a project manager to manager the Covid-19 pandemic crisis. The whole thing is heavily driven by the Minister of Health and Wellness and the Prime Minister. It is a massive undertaking which requires serious planning and implementation. Politicians must stick to politics which most handle very well, and leave operational matters to technical persons and other planning to the strategic planners. If we do not have them in the system then we must employ them. If they are in the system then they have failed and we might need some replacements.

First, persons should be able to book a time to get their vaccination by date and a specific hour using an online computerized system. If we had a national identification system then we could use that to uniquely identify persons but at this time we have to settle for using the TRN system.

Limits would be set for the the total amount of persons who can be accommodate within an hour by vaccination system. One should be able to log on to a cellular phone on the day of the appointment and the system could tell you the progress of the vaccination process.

One should be able to retrieve one's booking by TRN number and password and be able to change appointments possible two days before. The day before would be when the data would be processed for action.

At this point, we should have all the names of the persons who have received their first dose in the various areas across Jamaica. We should therefore know who are for their second dose.

One thing we should bear in mind, is how we communicate. One case of poor communication can cause panic.

I am no expert in information technology nor project matters. We have enough experts around. We need to hear from them and we need to use them. I would love to hear from them! Please add your comments.

Note: One thing this experience has taught us, is that we need to have a National Identification System now in Jamaica. I wonder how many persons got the vaccination free and they are not even Jamaicans? I wonder how many will end up not getting their second second vaccination dose.