The States of Guernsey is expecting 18,525 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 22,070 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to have arrived on Island by the end of March 2021.
Vaccinations are currently being delivered in the island’s care homes, in addition the 80 year old and over cohort are being invited to attend their Primary Care surgery for their vaccination. All vaccinations in Alderney and Sark are being managed by the islands’ GP practices.
The Community Vaccination Centre (CVC) is scheduled to open on Monday 25 January 2021 and work is progressing well on the fit out of the Sir John Loveridge Hall. The operational times for the CVC are between 10 am and 7pm 5 days a week. For week one it will be open Monday, Tuesday, and then Thursday to Saturday. A pause has been scheduled for the Wednesday to review and iron out any snagging issues. Thereafter, the CVC will be open Tuesday to Saturday.
Invitation letters to the first cohort of patients to be vaccinated at the CVC (those over the age of 75) are being sent out today. Please note that the invite letters will be sent out in batches to manage the flow of callers booking appointments.
To support islanders booking appointments, a dedicated vaccination call centre has been established with 4 call handlers who will be available to book appointments every weekday between 8am and 8pm and every weekend between 8 am and 12 noon. If you cannot get through on these lines initially please be patient and keep trying.
There may be some difficulty in scheduling vaccinations around existing commitments and therefore Islanders are encouraged to prioritise receiving their vaccinations. The vaccinations for the cohorts being delivered at the CVC will have a 6 week interval between doses. This is to ensure the most optimal and strategic use is made of the vaccine supply allocated to the Bailiwick in the forthcoming months. The gap between doses followed a detailed evaluation of the data regarding the efficacy of the vaccine with differing timing options.
The first two priority cohorts (care home residents, over 80s and front line health and care workers) will continue to receive their second dose of the vaccine at 3 or 4 week intervals (depending on the vaccine delivered) as plans were already in place to support this delivery model and to ensure the resilience of the health and care services.
Islanders are reminded that there is a priority order for vaccinations and are asked to be patient as things progress through the agreed cohort list. Please do not contact the vaccination helpline unless you have received an invitation letter.
