15 December 2020
Jersey’s COVID-19 vaccination delivery team has now vaccinated nearly 500 people after two days of visiting residential and care homes across the island. 470 people across nine homes were visited in the last two days. The work continues today, and the team is hoping to have given all first doses to care home residents by the end of this week. The second doses will be due 21 days later.
Any doses left after vaccinating residents are used on care home staff, so they do not have to travel for vaccination and can remain with the residents and maintain their caring duties. The next batch of vaccines is expected later this week and will be used for care home and home care staff.
The Operations Lead for the Covid Vaccination Programme, Ross Barnes, said: “We were pleased to be able to complete all the necessary preparations in time to start vaccinating care home residents a day early. These are the most at-risk of our population and it was an emotional day for the medical team, as they helped people take their first step towards resuming normal life.
“There are approximately 1,000 care home residents in Jersey and in addition to care homes, we will be vaccinating vulnerable Islanders at Les Amis.”
Jersey has a comprehensive plan for vaccinating the most at-risk Islanders against contracting COVID-19. The first batch of vaccines is being used to protect the most vulnerable Islanders. They will then be followed by different groups, in keeping with the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.
The Minister for Health and Social Services, Deputy Richard Renouf, said: “I was delighted to see Beryl Taylor, who was among the first in Jersey to receive this vaccination, recommending it to others. We want to protect people and help them return to normality and vaccination is the best way to achieve this.
“This is the largest and most comprehensive vaccination programme that Jersey’s healthcare sector has managed, and I would like to congratulate them on the work they put in to start the programme a day early.
"I would also like to thank the care home managers and their teams for their hard work to ensure residents were informed and prepared ahead of their vaccinations. The sooner we can get our vulnerable population protected, the better it will be for all of us. I would strongly encourage as many people as possible to be vaccinated, as this is how we can start returning to normal life.”
Background
Tier 1 - The first people to receive the vaccine are the approximately 1,000 residents of nursing and residential homes
Tier 1b - The next people to be vaccinated will be care home and home care staff. They will be vaccinated at the Queen’s Hall in Fort Regent.
Tier 2a - Islanders aged 80+
Tier 2b - nearly 5,000 front line Health and Community Services staff
Tier 2c - other Health and Community Services staff, GPs and pharmacists
Tier 3a - Islanders aged 75-79
Tier 3b / 3c - age groups 70-74 and 3,000 high risk Islanders
Tier 3d - 65-69-year olds
Tier 4 - people aged 50-64
Tier 5 - the remainder of the population
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