The Tribune

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

AS COVID-19 vaccinations continue, a senior health official has assured the public that all who’ve received a first dose are guaranteed the second jab.

Dr Merceline Dahl-Regis, head of the National COVID-19 Consultative Committee said yesterday officials are securing the numbers needed to supply second doses.

She also gave an update on the COVAX shipment.

She said: “We are committed to the second dose. We will have sufficient vaccines. In terms of the arrival of the second shipment of COVAX, it is promised in May, but we will work around dates, but until it is landed we cannot plan how it is going to be used. We have had so many shifting goal posts with the arrival of vaccines that we really have to plan what we have.

“And, we have to project the plan should we get more. In terms of the Indian vaccine we are working with what we have. We didn’t expect the 20,000 but we are grateful for it. We know that the president has different restrictions now, but we are grateful for what we got. If we get more we can use it because there is a demand for it.”

The vaccine committee will “pause” the rollout on Saturday for evaluation purposes, simply to assess supplies for first doses, second doses, mobile distribution and distribution to the Family Islands.

The committee also has outside assistance as there will be lots of focus on the Family Islands.

She continued: “In terms of the pause we want to really do a good job with preparation for the Family Islands. We have the benefit of support from the Rhode Island National Guard. They will be here with the King Air and offering services from April 26th to April 30th. We are going to supplement that with commercial flights and charters where necessary.

“We want to do the entire archipelago during that week which means we need to prepare before that. We learned from our Eleuthera experience that we need to field on the ground teams. The preparation needs to be really strengthened. That is one of the reasons why we are taking some time, the week before and the week afterwards. We want to give each island an opportunity. That is what we are mapping out right now. It is pretty daunting.”

It should be noted that there were originally 53,600 vaccines made available – 20,000 gifted from the Indian government and the remaining 33,600 from the PAHO-generated COVAX programme. Earlier this week, the Committee reported that some 15,000 Bahamians were in receipt of the first dose of the vaccine.

The Committee, in its bid to be as helpful as possible in getting shots into the arms of those who truly want it, made some adjustments to vaccination sites.

“We are not going to stop in New Providence, we just have selected sites,” said Dr. Dahl-Regis. “We are not closing any sites but Baha Mar and Atlantis. In terms of the other sites, we are cutting back on the vaccines. We opened up Stapledon today. We want to advance the home visits and the nursing homes.

“That has been a real challenge for us. We want to open a site, hopefully, in the inner city. We recognise that access is if you have transportation. So, we are developing a new walk up site like the Church of God of Prophecy. That is in the plan. We will announce those plans on Tuesday. We will have a press conference, but we are still working on the logistics of it.”

The vaccine committee will provide an update on inoculations at its press conference next Tuesday.