The Island’s vaccination programme is due to pass two major milestones this week as the rollout continues at pace. By Friday, 50% of the adult population will have had both doses of the vaccine, and the 100,000th jab will go into a patient’s arm.
The milestones come as the programme focuses on delivering second doses to Island residents, ensuring their long term protection against the virus. Currently, the vaccination rollout has administered 62,419 first doses (86% of adult population) and 36,086 second doses.
Minster for Health and Social Care David Ashford MHK said:
‘The vaccination programme achieving two big landmarks this week is welcome news for the Island’s fight against COVID-19. Having half of the adult population vaccinated with the full course is a huge achievement, helping prevent people becoming seriously ill with the virus or needing hospital care. More widely this level of immunity adds to our community’s defence against the Delta variant which is extremely important.
He added:
‘I am incredibly proud of the hard work shown by everyone involved in the programme, from the 111 booking teams, the admin teams, those behind the scenes as well as our vaccinators and I want to extend a huge thank you to them. We have made great progress in protecting our community against this virus and that is down to our dedicated teams.’
Planning is underway for the next stage of the vaccination programme which is due to begin later this year and will focus on a booster programme. More information on this will follow.
Ahead of the Airport hub scaling down, individuals with appointments there on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 July, and Saturday 17 and 19 July are reminded to instead attend Chester Street hub. All appointments will be at the exact same time as the original bookings for these dates. Anyone who has an appointment before 5 July at the Airport should attend for their vaccination appointment as booked.
