Jamaica will soon be participating in a number of clinical trials in the fight to find a vaccine to treat the Zika virus, according to Jamaica Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton.
The clinical trials are part of an international study, and are supported by the World Health Organization.
Tufton said the vaccine could become available within a year.
Jamaica is among some 65 countries fighting Zika.
“The Zika virus is new and there is no resistance. The immune system has not experienced it and developed the capacity to fight against it. So, when something is new like Zika, it tends to spread faster until you develop some sort of resistance to it,” Tufton said.
But he also urged the country to fight Zika with the free flow of information at all levels.
“The biggest and most significant line of defence to fight this virus is us,” he said.
