“Small number” of covid infections after vaccine

Friday 12 February 2021

Only a “small number” of the 21,000 islanders who have had the covid vaccine have gone on to contract the virus, the Government has confirmed - but most are believed to have been infected within 14 days of receiving the jab.

Further investigations are now being carried out into those cases, and exact figures are expected to be published when the analysis is complete.

The contact tracing team is also now recording whether new confirmed cases have been vaccinated. 

Deputy Medical Officer for Health Dr Ivan Muscat likened immunity levels within the first 14 days of having a vaccine as similar to those of someone who hasn’t had a jab.

Immunity continues to improve and evolve over the next seven days, reaching 88% immunity by day 21 with the Pfizer vaccine, for example.

The confirmation, which came in response to questions from Express, came alongside news that the island had passed 21,000 first doses - more than 15% of the local population.

As of Sunday 7 February: 

• 21,007 doses of the vaccine have been administered;
• 17,829 Islanders have received their first dose;
• 3,178 Islanders have received both doses;
• 96% of Islanders aged 80+ have received their first dose;
• 94% of care home residents have received their first dose;
• 80% of care home residents have received their second;
• 88% of Islanders aged 75-79 have received their first dose;
• 78% of Islanders aged 70-74 have received their first dose.

Asked by Express for a breakdown of vaccinations by priority group, such as frontline health workers, Government officials said they were still working on “data cleansing” and ensuring that no individuals were double-counted.

They attributed the delay in providing this type of breakdown to the manual nature of the data input process. However, they said that various “prototypes” of how they might present the data had been presented to the Statistics Users Group, and that these were yet to be agreed.

The latest figures mean the vaccination programme is on target to reach its goal of all over-50s by the end of March. 

Pictured: The Fort Regent Vaccination centre.

Vaccination Lead Becky Sherrington said the team had “exceeded initial targets of vaccinating the over-80s, with 96% now having received their first dose.”

“The success of the programme is testament to the vaccination team but also family members, friends and others in the community who have supported those getting vaccinated so far. This milestone marks a significant amount of work and represents real lives which will have been saved as a result,” she said. 

Jersey’s vaccination rate currently ranks fourth globally, behind Israel, the UAE and Seychelles.

As the percentage of individuals vaccinated globally increases, so too does talk of vaccination passports.

Dr Muscat confirmed that Jersey had also discussed this, concluding that it would be simple to draw up such a document with data including type of vaccination and date, but deciding on what freedoms it would bestow would be a more complex decision that may have to be agreed with other global health authorities.

Pictured: Jersey's Government has been considering the issue of 'vaccine passports', Dr Muscat confirmed.

Vaccine appointments for those categorised as being at ‘moderate risk’ will be available in stages from next week and those aged 65+69 can continue booking appointments.  

Primary Care Medical Director Adrian Noon said that the vaccination team had worked closely with GPs to establish who exactly should fit into this category to provide a safeguard against people outside of the priority group signing up. 

Individuals with asthma, for example, will only qualify if they have recently been admitted to hospital or gone through at least two courses of oral steroids in the past 12 months. 

Ms Sherrington reminded islanders that they must bring their letter as proof when they turn up to the Fort Regent Vaccination Centre, warning that they may otherwise be turned away.