Electronic Immunization Registry (EIR) pilot project for Jamaica launched
Health centres in several Jamaican parishes have been damaged by Hurricane Melissa. Some or all of the roofs have been lost, showing how destructive the storm was. But the damage isn’t just to houses. In the affected centres, patient files that have been wet with water have pages stuck together, and important information is hard to read. This is more than just a hassle for health workers; it undermines continuity of care and the quality of immunisation services.
Because of this, the ceremony at St. Ann’s Bay Health Centre on December 11, 2025, to hand over the hardware for Jamaica’s national electronic immunisation record (EIR) pilot project was even more important.
The EIR pilot is a part of a larger plan to bring Jamaica’s immunisation programs up to date. The system is currently being tested in 18 project sites. It will allow vaccination data to be entered in real time at the point of care and kept safely in data centres that can’t be damaged by disasters. The method will help health teams obtain timely information for follow-up and service delivery by reducing reliance on paper records, which are easy to lose or damage. About 135,000 people are expected to benefit from the pilot, and health workers have already said they are highly engaged and feel a greater sense of ownership of the process.
The EIR pilot project would not have been possible without the CanGIVE program in Canada. This USD 2.3 million (≈ CAD 3.24 million) grant covers technical help from PAHO and WHO. The grant from Canada helps with designing the EIR system, monitoring it, evaluating it, managing risks, and communicating with others. The Ministry of Health and Wellness was given a Tier 3 data centre with two servers set up in Kingston and two servers set up as a backup in Mandeville. The hardware also includes tablets, laptops, desktop computers, printers, and a Tier 3 data centre. The total value of the hardware is about USD 719,000 (CAD 1.012 million).
At the facility level, the effects of the upcoming EIR and the capacity-building supported by the CanGIVE PAHO grant are already clear. Situation room methods used at test sites allow healthcare workers to quickly review information and fill any gaps in coverage. At Mocho Health Centre, focused actions based on data use and management raised the number of people getting their first HPV shot from 27 to 114 in just one month. This shows how up-to-date, accurate information can improve immunisation outcomes.
Along with technology, ongoing efforts focus on developing the workforce and improving policies. With the help of updated Expanded Program on Immunisation field instructions, more than 150 Ministry of Health and Wellness employees were trained between 2024 and 2025 to improve how vaccinations are administered. Courses from the National Health Emergency Operations Centre have helped the Ministry and national emergency services perform their roles more effectively. A concept note for a comprehensive adult immunisation policy has also made progress. Gender and intersectionality issues will be taken into account in the policy’s creation, monitoring, and evaluation, as well as in activities linked to EIR.
Along with these efforts, work is underway to improve the database to support decision-making. With the help of 16 key partners, support for creating a national vaccination coverage study for kids ages 0 to 7 will ensure that future planning is based on solid data and teamwork.
It’s important for Jamaica to keep updating its immunization services. The EIR pilot and the work supported by the generous grant from the Canadian Government show that digital systems can protect important health information and ensure care remains consistent, both in normal situations and during problems.
There’s more to the EIR than just computers. It gathers important health data, ensures that health services don’t stop, and gives health workers the tools they need to do their jobs accurately and with confidence, even in emergencies. With the new EIR, health teams will be able to see service gaps, fill them, and plan what to do in real time. The upcoming registry will help make health services and communities across the country smarter and stronger by guiding Jamaica’s Expanded Program on Immunization and helping more people get vaccinated across the country.