By DENISE MAYCOCK
Tribune Freeport Reporter
dmaycock@tribunemedia.net
VACCINATIONS on Grand Bahama are in progress at the Susan J Wallace Centre and people who are immuno-compromised are encouraged to get vaccinated.
The centre is administering the extended dose and booster shot of Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.
The country has entered its fourth wave, with cases of the Omicron variant suspected to be in the country. Last week, the country recorded 970 COVID-19 cases, including one day with 330 cases, the highest total in a single day since the start of the pandemic.
Vaccinations are available Monday through Friday during the hours of 8am to noon and from 1pm to 3pm.
A hospital official said persons are coming in for the shot. The centre will close today for the holiday.
“For those that are highly at risk, persons that are immune-compromised we are encouraging them to get a booster,” advised Dr Freeman Lockhart during a Rotary Club of Grand Bahama Zoom meeting last month.
“We encourage boosters because there has been a significant drop off in the number of persons accessing the vaccine,” he said back in November.
He said that vaccines have expiry dates on them. “To avoid vaccines expiring, we find boosters will be offered to the general populace sooner rather than later.”
Dr Lockhart also urged people to continue to wear masks and observe public health guidelines.
According to an official announcement released by Grand Bahama Health Services on December 13, persons eligible to receive the extended dose are those with active cancer or who have ended treatment within the last 12 months.
Others eligible persons include: those who have had an organ transplant, chronic dialysis, HIV with a current CD4 count of less than 200 cells/ul or detectable viral load; persons who were on active treatment causing significant immunosuppression; or had immunosuppressive chemotherapy or radiotherapy within the past six months; received the Pfizer, AstraZeneca, or Johnson and Johnson vaccines 1-3 before requesting the extended dose.
Persons eligible to receive the booster dose must be 18 years and older, and six months have passed since the second Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine; or two months have passed since the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Eligible persons for the extended dose or the booster shot are asked to make their appointment at vax.gov.bs. All vaccine recipients are asked to report to the vaccination centre 15 minutes before their appointment time and bring along their yellow COVID-19 vaccine card. Walk-ins are also welcomed.
People that have received their first round of vaccines are advised that they will be accommodated for the extended dose or booster shot during a scheduled time to be announced.
Comments
ThisIsOurs 2 years, 10 months ago
The world is in its 4th wave. The Bahamas is in its 5th wave
1st wave: prior to July 2020 we had about 80 deaths?
2nd: July 2020 - border opens for the first time post 1st case
3rd: March 2021-June 2021 - spring break
4th: July 2021-October 2021 - homeporting begins
5th: Dec 2021 - winter tourist rush
What most people fail to acknowledge despite there being *multiple* Tribune articles reporting the information, there was a distinct delineation between the 3rd and 4th waves in early June 2021. Both Dr Sands and Renward Wells made note of it. I believe that drop off in cases in Jun 2021, signaling the end of the 3rd wave, was the impetus for planning an August election. It was good news to pin a campaign on. Unfortunately they fooled themselves about the impact of an exponential rise in tourist arrivals, and when homeporting kicked off in July 2021, we were off to the races again. The exact same thing happened in November, like we cant learn. This over exuberance on the good news in tourism without acknowledging that it comes with new variants and an exponential increase in cases
Because the time between the dropoff in cases in the 3rd wave and the spike in the subsequent wave was so brief, most people clump them into a single wave. But that would break from what the data says. The data says a variant takes about 4mnths to cycle our population. If there were only 4 waves, the 3rd wave would have lasted 8 months. Who's watching the data? The duration of this 5th cycle may be shorter due to the speed at which the virus is being transmitted
(Because our tourism cycles are predictable, our spikes to a certain extent are also very predictable)
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