Island could see Covid vaccine within six months – BMA rep
IT IS looking promising that Guernsey will start seeing Covid-19 vaccines being administered within six months, local British Medical Association representative Mat Dorrian has said.
His comments follow news from pharmaceutical businesses Pfizer and BioNTech that they have developed a vaccine candidate which is more than 90% effective in preventing Covid-19. An external, independent data monitoring committee has not reported any serious safety concerns.
It is one a number of vaccines being developed by different companies across the world. Mr Dorrian said there was work going on behind the scenes to get Guernsey ready for a vaccine: ‘There’s no doubt GPs will be important and GPs have been working with Public Health for many months, working together for delivery of Covid vaccine,’ he said.
Vaccines normally given in the island, such as seasonal flu jabs, can be kept in a normal fridge at the GPs’ surgeries. One of the challenges of the Pfizer vaccine has been the need to keep it below -70 degrees Celsius. Dr Dorrian said the vaccine had some very specific storage requirements: ‘But that was known about and there are arrangements in place to allow us to work around that,’ he said.
Pfizer has stated the jab remains viable for up to five days kept in a normal fridge before it is administered. Dr Dorrian also pointed out that there was no guarantee that the Pfizer vaccine will be the one used in the island, with other vaccines in development, but whatever happened, it would be fully safety tested. He said it was hard to predict when a vaccine could finally arrive in the island.
‘We are in a better situation than we were six months ago, when we really weren’t sure when,’ he said.
‘It is now looking promising for a vaccine within six months or so, but we don’t know when within that.’
It is not clear yet how vaccines will be distributed in Guernsey. But in the UK doctors have been provided with information on how they will provide the vaccine, what they will be paid for the service and other key information.
The BMA has released vaccine guidance for GPs, which states that as well as GPs and pharmacists delivering the vaccine, mass vaccination centres may also be used ‘in a similar way to testing centres’.
The NHS previously said that mass vaccination centres were being considered, as were the use of ‘roving teams’ who deliver the vaccine to care homes and house-bound patients. The BMA said due to the logistics and delivery requirements, it was likely that groups of GP practices would need to work together with one ‘designated vaccination site’. A priority list for who gets the vaccine in the UK is expected to be in line with similar flu vaccine guidelines, with high risk care home residents and staff and all health and care workers likely to be first in line. The Pfizer vaccine has two doses per patient, given at a gap of between 21 and 28 days.
Guernsey’s Public Health has stated it is not possible to talk about when a vaccine would be available locally, as the development and release of vaccines was out of the island’s hands. It has been working with the UK Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation, which will determine which vaccine the island will receive and when. But the States of Jersey has said that it is expected to started to start vaccinating islanders there by the end of this year.
‘We have not got a definitive date for vaccine delivery, but we must ensure that we have the wherewithal to start deploying the vaccine as soon as it arrives, which means being ready before the end of the year,’ a States of Jersey spokesperson has said.
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