Earlier in the week, the Medical Officer of Health, Dr Nicola Brink, said take up of boosters needed to accelerate as the island approaches what she called “a tidal wave of omicron” cases of covid-19 over the next few weeks
A vaccine was administered every 26 seconds at the Community Vaccination Centre at Beau Sejour. Initially, anyone aged 30 or over, and then anyone aged 18 or over, was able to walk in without an appointment and 1,432 people did.
The GP surgeries involved – Queen’s Road, St Sampson’s and St Martin’s – said they administered more than 1,300 boosters on Saturday after being allowed to join the programme for the first time.
The community has been so supportive and patient. Everyone is working together to a common goal.
— Nicola Brink MBE (@DrNicolaBrink) December 18, 2021
Honestly it was amazing. Everyone helped. I cannot express how impressed I was when I went to the centre.
— Nicola Brink MBE (@DrNicolaBrink) December 18, 2021
Pictured: Dr Nicola Brink was delighted with the island’s response to her call to accelerate the take up of vaccine boosters.
The partnership with GP surgeries is part of a new approach to rolling out vaccine boosters after a mixed start to the programme. The States announced this week that they will no longer send out letters with appointment times and instead will hold walk-in clinics where people can turn up without an appointment.
The Queen’s Road Medical Practice said: “Fantastic effort from all three GP practices in Guernsey. With only three days’ notice we delivered over 1,300 covid boosters in a single morning. Great work and great to be involved.”
Island Health, which runs the surgery at St Sampson’s, said “the final figure may be slightly higher than this”. It said it was “pleased to be able to help at this challenging time”.
Meanwhile, the Medical Specialist Group (MSG) and the States are reminding patients who are booked for elective surgery that they must follow pre-operative advice sent to them by the MSG. In most cases, this means taking a lateral flow test for the four days prior to surgery and a fifth one on arrival at the hospital. Some patients are also asked to avoid crowds or isolate ahead of their procedure.
Elective procedures will continue to be scheduled over Christmas and New Year and every effort will be made not to have to postpone surgery. However, the MSG and the States are warning patients that postponement is a possibility if there is suddenly too much pressure on hospital capacity as a result of additional winter demands or a wave of omicron covid-19 cases.