Vaccine rollout at a rate of 400 doses per day
GUERNSEY’S Covid-19 vaccine rollout has been continuing at the rate of about 400 doses per day over the last month, according to the latest figures released by the States.
This includes the AstraZeneca and Pfizer BioNTech vaccines, which have been available in Guernsey since December, as well as the Moderna vaccine, which was approved for use in the Bailiwick in January and has recently been made available at the Covid Vaccination Centre at Beau Sejour.
This, like the Pfizer version, is an mRNA vaccine which utilises novel genetic modification technology.
Three drop-in clinics have now been held at the centre where the Moderna vaccine has been used and the first of these to have been publicised was held yesterday.
Among those attending was local resident Ross Kendall, who said he had been put off from taking up the earlier option of the AstraZeneca vaccine because of news stories about blood clotting – a very rare but severe adverse effect that has been observed after the first dose.
‘I’ve heard no bad reports about Moderna,’ he said, ‘so that’s my personal preference.’
The current advice from the States of Guernsey is that for people under 40 without other health conditions, it is preferable to have another vaccine instead of AstraZeneca.
Also attending yesterday’s clinic was Aileen Fahy, who had also decided to wait for an alternative, saying her decision was influenced by having experienced deep-vein thrombosis in her left leg in the past.
She was delighted about the timing of the Moderna clinic, as it came exactly six weeks after she had received her first dose of the vaccine in Ireland – this being the gap between Moderna vaccines that is recommended locally.
States figures yesterday showed that 91,723 vaccines had been administered – 11,425 more than on 28 June.
Of those aged 18 or over, 81% have now received both doses, while a further 14% have received one dose.
These figures are percentages of the whole Bailiwick population, which is taken to be 65,780.
n There are now 61 cases of Covid in the islands, 20 of them in Alderney, where nine have recovered over the past day, with one person in hospital.
Seven new cases have been identified in Guernsey, all of them travellers or contacts of a known case.
