Thursday 01 April 2021
Phase 2 of the programme for those 18 to 49 will continue to be delivered at the Community Vaccination Centre at Beau Sejour and the Committee for Health & Social Care has agreed that the rollout will be largely done in order of age.
Letters will imminently be sent to those in the 44-49 age group, with an invitation to book in for their first dose. We will then be contacting subsequent age groups shortly afterwards.
While consideration had been given to prioritising certain professions, moving quickly through the groups based on age will actually ensure these key staff are vaccinated quicker than if an exercise was carried out to identify all staff in certain sectors, remove those who have already been vaccinated having qualified in the Phase 1, and invite those remaining.
It is more efficient to continue issuing invitations based on age as these groups have already been identified so the rollout can begin now. This also ensures the islands continue to align with the position of the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which has also decided to continue with age specification for the 18-49 phase.
However, the Committee for Health & Social Care has agreed that there is a case to prioritise staff who are involved in key activities at the borders who have not already received the vaccine. This is considered appropriate as the island begins to ease restrictions at the borders.
Deputy Al Brouard, President of the Committee for Health & Social Care, said:
'The Vaccination Programme has been a success so far and it is hugely positive that we are on course to complete Phase 2, which will mean all islanders over the age of 18 have had the opportunity to receive both doses of the vaccine, by the end of July. The decision to continue primarily with an operationally simple, age-based programme will mean we can move through the remaining age groups as quickly as possible and where the supply of vaccine allows.
'We know there had been calls for some professions, such as teachers and police officers for example, to be prioritised in Phase 2 but having looked at it we can, quite simply, vaccinate these key staff groups quicker by progressing at speed through the already-defined age groups. Thankfully the island is back to the enviable position of having no known COVID cases and the most vulnerable individuals in our community have already been vaccinated.
'The Committee did, however, believe there was a need to further examine whether anyone who works in roles supporting the movement of people at the borders, but who has not yet received the vaccine, should be prioritised during Phase 2. More work is being done on that at the moment.'