100 per cent of Jakes Hotel staff vaccinated
After spending time educating its staff about the COVID-19 vaccine and “meeting them wherever”, Jason Henzell, chairman of Jakes Hotel, Villas & Spa, said that 125 persons on its roster are now vaccinated.
“We’ve been spending a lot of time with our staff with regards to educating them on the history of vaccination in Jamaica and the efficacy of each of the COVID-19 vaccines. We arranged for them to meet with doctors, making appointments for them, arranging transportation and even picking them up at their houses, some of them in my own car,” Henzell said.
Jamaica has been pushing to get at least 65 per cent of its nearly three million people vaccinated by next March, as part of a quest to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic. Just over 711,000 people have been vaccinated thus far.
Jakes Hotel, Villas & Spa is the first and only establishment in Jamaica to have so far accomplished 100 per cent vaccination under the tourism vaccination initiative of the Ministry of Tourism and the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist
Association, working in tandem with the Private Sector Vaccination Initiative. The accomplishment has not escaped the attention of Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett.
“I commend Jakes for setting the pace in the drive to get all tourism workers vaccinated. The tourism industry is on the rebound globally and travellers are looking for COVID-safe destinations for their travel experiences. If we are to achieve maximum returns, our tourism workers must demonstrate their commitment to protecting themselves, their co-workers, their families and our visitors by taking the lifesaving vaccine,” Bartlett said.
The minister said that tourism establishments on the south coast participating in the vaccination initiative are said to be at levels between 40 and 70 per cent.
Meanwhile, Henzell has warned against shaming persons who have indicated a reluctance to take the COVID-19 vaccine. He said that a lack of empathy will only serve to push people away.
“A lot boils down to trust, not rushing them through the process and giving them any reason to feel intimidated.”
“If we are to follow all of the research and all the statistics that have been published, becoming vaccinated gives you a much higher success rate of getting through terrible days of COVID if you become infected, so I strongly suggest that you consider the vaccine and even speak to your doctor about which one might be best suited for you,” the hotelier said.