First Guernsey person receives Covid-19 vaccine this morning

Today is a landmark day in the Bailiwick, with the first cohort of frontline health and care staff receiving their first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

Dr Sue Fleming was the first person in the Bailiwick to receive the vaccine at 8am and is included in the first priority cohort as she provides direct care to the residents.

The vaccine is being administered in a priority order, with health and social care staff and elderly people in the community being top of the list.

The infrastructure required to roll out a vaccine that needs to be stored at ultra-low temperatures has been put in place at 'significant pace'.

Health & Social Care president Deputy Al Brouard said that it was down to the hard work and dedication of staff across the States that Guernsey is in a position to roll out the vaccine before the end of this challenging year.

'We are exceptionally pleased that we can start this vaccine programme with very low numbers of cases of Covid-19 in the islands and no evidence of community seeding,' he said.

'This makes the roll-out a much simpler process and is down to the continued #GuernseyTogether spirit in the Bailiwick.'

The vaccine will be delivered in order of priority set by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.

Moving through the priority cohorts, those eligible will receive a letter in order to arrange their vaccine appointments.

Islanders are asked to wait to be called, not to call up to see when they will be offered the vaccine.

The Emma Ferbrache Room at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital has been re-purposed as a small vaccination centre for this phase of the vaccine programme.

HSC thanked the North Show committee for agreeing that chairs that were lent to HSC initially for extra seating for a staff event can be used in the re-purposed room while it is being used as a vaccination centre.

Thanks was also given to those who have been understanding and supportive when HSC had to cancel a number of large room bookings that had been made to accommodate the vaccination centre.