Not fully vaccinated over-50s urged to get jab as cases rise

Monday 21 March 2022

Islanders over 50 who have not been fully jabbed are being urged to get vaccinated amid a rise in covid cases that has pushed back the end of mandatory isolation.

Explaining why legal isolation has been extended from the end of March, when it had originally been due to end, to the end of April, the Deputy Medical Officer of Health said that the move had been designed to buy the island more time.

“We currently are getting around 300 new cases a day, which is slowing climbing, so we don’t want that to accelerate; we want that to decelerate,” Dr Ivan Muscat MBE explained.

“That rise has the potential to put pressure on community and health services, so it was considered sensible to try to stem the rise in cases by postponing the removal of mandatory isolation and give ourselves more time to roll out the spring booster programme.”

He added: “That programme is aimed at the more vulnerable members of our community but also we want islanders over 50 to be fully jabbed – while we may be leaving the emergency phase of this pandemic, covid is still very much with us.”

The Government also hopes that the delay to the end of mandatory isolation will also buy Jersey more time to deliver anti-viral treatments. Milder spring days, with people spending more time outside and more likely to open a window or two when indoors, will help too, it says.

A combination of the identification of the more transmissible BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron, as well as Jersey’s phased de-escalation from covid, means infection rates and hospitalisations have increased since the earlier decision was taken at the end of January.