The British regulator, The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), has announced today that the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, which offers up to 95% protection against COVID-19 illness, is safe for roll-out from next week in the UK.
But what does this mean for the Bailiwick of Guernsey? As announced at the media briefing held on 27 November, the Bailiwick is ready to roll out the vaccine to those in our community who have been identified as a priority group.
Dr Nicola Brink, Director of Public Health said: ‘The announcement made by the MHRA today is excellent news for our community as it is the protection of a vaccine that gives us hope that we can see the end of the pandemic. We still have a number of actions to work through before we can immunise individuals in our community but this is a very exciting, and pleasing step forward in our fight against the virus.’
Now that the regulator has approved the vaccine for use, having considered all of the safety and efficacy data that is available, Guernsey needs to move to designate the vaccine as an approved one for use in the Bailiwick.
The Prescription Only Medicines (Human) (Bailiwick of Guernsey) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 was approved by the States Assembly in August 2020. These amendments enable the Committee for Health & Social Care to designate a vaccine to be sold, supplied and administered in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, for so long as the vaccine has a temporary authorisation issued under the Human Medicines Regulations 2012.
The Bailiwick also requires a Patient Group Directive (PGD) which is a legal exemption which allows registered health professionals (such as nurses, midwives and paramedics) to administer a medicine without it being prescribed in the usual manner (i.e. by prescription on an individual basis). The use of a PGD is common in programmes such as the influenza vaccination programme.
In consultation with the States of Alderney and the Government of Sark, the Committee for Health & Social Care will consider the approval of the MHRA of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and decide whether it will authorise its use in the Bailiwick.
Once a vaccine has been designated, the Bailiwick will receive its agreed allocation of vaccines from the UK and it will be supplied using our tried and tested supply chains.
