Jamaica PM relaxing restrictions with low 18.1% Vaccinated

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#Jamaica, December 15, 2021 – Prime Minister of Jamaica Andrew Holness has announced amended curfew hours for the nation’s Christmas season to mixed cries of jubilation and criticism.

The Prime Minister announced the new hours in Parliament on December 7th.

The nightly curfew was moved up from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. and on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve the curfew was extended to 1 am Christmas morning.

Christmas Eve which is referred to as Grand Market in the country is one of the busiest nights of the year. Across the island vendors pop up along sidewalks in cities and towns and roads are often impassable due to the sheer number of people using the street. It is traditional that hundreds of thousands of people gather in major towns to purchase discounted Christmas presents and toys for children, attend parties, etc.

With curfew hours now relaxed, it is not implausible that after several months of restrictions people will flock to the event.

Jamaica’s vaccine uptake currently stands at 18.1 per cent less than halfway to the World Health Organization’s goal to have at least 40 per cent of the population vaccinated by the end of 2021. The country has been forced to dump AstraZeneca vaccines in the past and is now trying to cancel orders of the vaccine and replace it with Johnson & Johnson.

Some residents believe the relaxation of the measures is not wise. Schools are set to fully reopen in January and there are fears that a COVID-19 spike caused by the relaxed Christmas season could derail that.

The Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) has also warned against loosening restrictions, especially those of masking and social distancing.

Director of PAHO Dr Carissa Etienne said. “Let us do what works. We have seen how the relaxation of public health measures in the past have led to renewed waves of infection and we really don’t want this to happen again…it is still critical to abide by protective measures.”