First Covid jabs given at new vaccination centre

Raymond Falla House, which was recently vacated by the States departments based there, has the capacity to process up to 500 people per day.

‘It’s pretty much identical to Beau Sejour but smaller and a bit easier to manage,’ said vaccination reception lead Mark Finn.

‘We needed somewhere bigger when there was an urgent need to get large numbers vaccinated quickly, but that’s no longer the case.’

The site will be used by staff administering Covid-19 autumn boosters and seasonal flu vaccines, although the latter have not arrived yet.

These are being obtained directly from the suppliers and are expected to arrive in the next few weeks. The Covid-19 jabs are provided by the UK government.

Letters will be sent to those who are eligible for a Covid-19 booster, inviting them to make an appointment to attend the CVC or their doctor’s surgery. All appointments, whether for GP clinics or the CVC, will be made through the States’ vaccination call centre. The telephone number will be included on the invitation letter and islanders are asked to wait for their letter before seeking to arrange a vaccine.

Like last winter’s programme, the autumn booster will be administered in conjunction with the annual flu programme, so those eligible for both vaccines will be able to receive them at the same time, subject to availability.

Eligibility for Covid jabs is based on the latest advice of the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. It will be offered to all adults aged 50 and over, those aged five to 49 who are in a clinical risk group, including pregnant women, those aged five to 49 years who are household contacts of people with immunosuppression, those aged 16 to 49 who are carers, residents in a care home for older adults and staff working in care homes for older adults and front-line health and social care workers.

Opening times have been arranged to avoid clashes with school drop-off and pick-up times, to avoid traffic congestion.

People in Alderney will continue to be able to receive their vaccinations at the Island Medical Centre.

Boosters cannot be given to adults within 28 days of a positive lateral flow test result.

Those aged 12 to 17 will need to wait 12 weeks.

Evidence from Australia points to ‘very severe’ flu season

THIS year’s flu season is expected to be ‘very severe’, on the evidence of the southern hemisphere winter.

‘We are entering the autumn/winter this year with some uncertainty,’ vaccination programme lead Alex Hawkins-Drew said.

‘Australia has had an early and very severe flu season and we expect this to be replicated in the northern hemisphere.

‘We also expect to have Covid-19 circulating in our community.’

The extended flu vaccination programme is being offered this year, meaning that all those aged 50 and over, those who are classed as being at risk from an influenza infection and children and young people aged from two to those in Year 11 at school will receive an offer of a vaccine.

Those for children and young people of school age will be provided by the school nurse team in school as normal.