“We must do the vaccination in a particular, in an organised manner, and this is why for the next two days, today and tomorrow, we would have closed down the site,” Hon Malone said.

While the closure could run until Wednesday, February 24, 2021, Hon Malone said although some 453 persons were vaccinated last Wednesday, February 17, 2021, it was done in a manner that did not lend to proper recording and data collection.

Further, he said while the 453 persons were easy to process and vaccinate, as the volumes for vaccination increase to the thousands, paperwork for data collection must be complemented.

Minister for Health and Social Development, Hon Carvin Malone (AL) has revealed that the COVID-19 vaccine registration portal in the VI is now temporarily closed for updates to the registration forms.

More feature to come after closure

As such, he said additional information will be collected on the website when it is back up, including information on sites for vaccination across both the public and private sector.

Hon Malone said the government is currently considering about 12 public sites and 4 private facilities for mass vaccinations.

Additionally, the health minister revealed that a new shipment of UK sponsored COVID-19 vaccines is expected in the territory in about one to two weeks.

This he said will allow for vaccination for about 8000 persons, with increased projections to come with vaccines from the COVAX initiative.