Summary of activities for Development of Medical Education Training Programme

 A concept paper was submitted to the Chief Medical Officer for approval for the
change in age of administration for MMR2 (see memo and concept paper).
 A training proposal was developed and submitted to Pan American Health
Organization (PAHO) for support of this activity (see training proposal, report and
workshop documents).

MMR2 implementation and Vaccine Cold Management Training for EPI Workers
This training was conducted for healthcare workers in the Expanded Programme on
Immunization in December 2014 in preparation for the change in the age of
administration, from 4-6 years to 18 months.

Jamaica, historically had a low MMR2 coverage rate especially when compared to
DPT4 coverage rate, average of 25% compared to 86%, respectively. In order to
improve the coverage rate, the health care workers integrally involved in the
Immunization programme needed to be adequately prepared to implement the revised
schedule of vaccination. Although the team is well trained and very familiar with the
routine immunization schedule, appropriate education with respect to the rationale for
this change in the age of administration of the MMR2 needs to be communicated.

This training was combined with vaccine cold chain management. This was seen as an
important component of the training activity due to key role maintenance of the cold
chain plays in vaccine effectiveness.

Earlier in the year there was an incident which occurred where there was failure in the
vaccine cold chain at the central stores. The Family Health Unit therefore utilized this
training opportunity to reinforce the tenets of the management of the vaccine cold chain
to key stakeholders within the health care team.

Two hundred and twenty-four healthcare workers from all 4 regions were trained during
this period (see reports).
As a part of the social mobilization activities a poster with the new age of administration
was developed. Due to the limited budget, other IEC materials were not developed at
that time.

The coverage for 2nd dose of MMR for 2015 was 83% compared to previous years
where it ranged between 60-70%.