About 60% take up offer of a spring Covid booster

About 7,000 letters were sent out to islanders, which included adults aged 75 years and over, residents in a care home for older adults, and individuals aged five years and over who are immunosuppressed.

So far 4,259 have had the spring jab.

‘We are delighted to have been able to work closely with our colleagues in primary care who have taken the lead in the operational delivery of the programme, supported by the core administration and strategic vaccination team at HSC,’ said a Health & Social Care spokesman.

Guernsey’s vaccination programme is currently winding up. The spring booster period ends at the end of the month.

The evergreen offer – which allowed anyone who has not had a primary course of the vaccine – will also close on 30 June.

‘The evergreen offer has allowed all those who have been eligible to receive a primary course of vaccine aged 12 and over to continue to access the offer to date,’ the spokesman said.

‘The Bailiwick of Guernsey has aligned with other jurisdictions in announcing an end to the evergreen offer.’

Overall 183,782 vaccine doses have been given. With about 65,000 people in the Bailiwick, this works out at about 2.8 vaccines per person. This compares with about 2.25 vaccines per person in the UK.

‘The Bailiwick has seen a consistently high uptake of the primary course of vaccination,’ the spokesman said.

‘As those who have not yet had a Covid vaccine have had a long time to access this offer, we do not anticipate that there will be significant increase in uptake in the next month for this.’

Those eligible for a spring booster will have received a letter. Anyone who believes they are eligible should call 01481 220001 or email vcc@gov.gg.