Minister for Health and Social Development, Hon Carvin Malone (AL) has announced that vaccinations will begin as early as today, Friday, December 17, 2021, for priority groups.
“Now that the Pfizer vaccine has been added to our arsenal, we will begin vaccination as early as December 17th until December 18th in the first instance,” Hon Malone said.
“But please, you need not all come at once, we expect to do this in an orderly process based on schedules of priority groups to be outlined by the Chief Medical Officer,” he said.
According to information on the rollout, phase one of the Pfizer vaccination for priority groups will include persons like healthcare workers, the elderly, persons over age 65, children between ages 12-18, immune-compromised individuals, and frontline workers such as the police, firemen, customs and other officers.
Phase two of the vaccination for the general public is scheduled to kick off in January or earlier, depending on phase one uptake and response.
According to Chief Media Officer, Dr Ronald E. Georges, vaccination will be done in groups of 6 given the Pfizer vaccines comes in vials of six and this he says, will avoid wastage.
In addition, persons seeking a booster dose with AstraZeneca should know that those boosters are being reserved for persons with medical contra-indications to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. The available AstraZeneca shots and will also be going to persons requiring a second dose, having already had the first.
Dr Georges noted that Booster shots will be available to persons who have been fully vaccinated with both vaccine doses for at least three months.