Tears and smiles as vaccine administered
EMOTIONS were running high yesterday as the first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were administered.
For nurse Alex Hawkins-Drew, who is head of Public Health for women and children’s services and Public Health lead for the Covid-19 vaccination programme, it was an emotional drive to the hospital early in the morning.
After the initial dose was administered to the first person, Dr Sue Fleming, who is the matron of St John’s Residential Home, at 8am, Ms Hawkins-Drew spoke to the Guernsey Press about what a huge day this was for the team and the island.
‘We have been working on this project for months now so to see the fruit of our work is amazing,’ she said.
‘Protecting the most vulnerable and people on the front line is really important.’
She admitted getting a bit tearful on the way to work, but was full of smiles afterwards.
Staff in care and residential homes and front line care workers at the PEH, Medical Specialist Group and Guernsey Therapy Group all form the top priority groups for getting the vaccine first.
The first batch of the vaccine arrived in the island last week and so far 600 people have signed up to receive their first doses before Monday afternoon – the deadline for the shelf life of the vaccine, which has to be stored at an ultra-low temperature.
‘We will continue booking in people in that first priority group and have a huge bank of vaccinators available from St John, primary care, HSC and care homes to cope with the high demand in a short period of time,’ Ms Hawkins-Drew said.
The vaccine comes in vials and each vial contains five doses. Because an extraction from the vial is needed, there is a chance of some wastage but months of preparation means this has been brought to a minimum.
‘It is more complicated than a normal vaccine to administer so we have accounted for that, but we have spent months fine-tuning the logistics to optimise delivery,’ she said.
Between the first and second dose of the vaccine, patients must wait 21 days.
The second doses have already arrived on the island and dose two will be administered to those in the first priority groups from 7 January.
