Nearly 50 walk-ins get their covid jab

Tuesday 27 July 2021

Nearly 50 people took advantage of the new walk-in appointments to get their covid jabs yesterday.

The drop-ins at the Fort Regent centre, which are taking place every weekday between 17:00 and 18:00 and between 08:30 and 15:30 on weekends, launched as part of a drive to increase uptake among younger age groups.

47 people turned up as the drop-in programme as it launched yesterday evening, and it’s hoped many more will follow. 

The Government is not planning to provide daily figures on drop-in appointments, with the vaccination team instead looking to compile a weekly total.

Released yesterday, the latest overall Jersey vaccination statistics showed that, as of Wednesday 21 July, around 60% of the island’s population is fully vaccinated.

We've published the latest statistics regarding the number of COVID-19 vaccines delivered as at Wednesday, 21 July 2021.

Statistics are published twice a week. Figures will be updated online, every Monday for the previous Wednesday, and every Thursday for the previous Sunday. pic.twitter.com/CsuuVfHZQk

— Government of Jersey (@GovJersey) July 26, 2021

39% of islanders between 18 and 29 years old are still yet to get their first jab. 

28% of 30 to 39-year-olds have not been vaccinated at all, 16% of 40 to 49-year-olds, 9% of 50-59-year-olds, and 7% of 65 to 65-year-olds.

All other age groups have achieved 98% take-up or higher.

On Friday, it was announced that the time between doses had been reduced from five weeks to four.

This, the Government said, should enable 1,800 doses to be brought forward, protecting more people more quickly.

The current deadline to complete the vaccination programme is the end of August.

Dr Ivan Muscat MBE confirmed following questions from Express last week that a vaccination booster programme would be taking place in September and October. 

“The booster programme has scheduled various sub-groups and the order in which they will be vaccinated,” he explained. “Largely it’s going to be people over the age of 50 and those at risk, in addition to health care staff.”

Explaining the reason for prioritising those groups, Dr Muscat said: “There are two reasons for that, the original programme was designed to prevent serious disease, and therefore was aimed initially at those most at risk and then working down the risk group and of course, that way of thinking still holds."