The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

ALTHOUGH no details have been provided yet on the vaccination rollout for the Family Islands, several island administrators yesterday expressed confidence in their island’s readiness to administer the Oxford-AstraZeneca once doses arrive.

Dierdre Fox, assistant administrator for Bimini, said health officials there have already started looking at potential vaccination sites.

“They haven’t narrowed them down as yet but they’re considering the Gateway gymnasium and the BUB lodge hall and some of the churches halls so it could be spread out instead of in one area,” she told the Tribune.

“We have health teams coming from New Providence to assist with the rollout.”

The island is home to just under 3,000 people, according to Ms Fox. As of yesterday, there were 116 cases confirmed for Bimini and Cat Cay since the start of the pandemic.

She said: “The persons on Bimini (have been) listening to the media and the prime minister’s report. They’re enquiring as to where they can take it when it does get here.”

North and Central Abaco Administrator Terrece Bootle-Laing said she is still waiting to receive word from health officials concerning the island’s vaccination plan. The island’s curfew restrictions were recently tightened after health officials reported an uptick in cases there. It’s total COVID count now stands at 301 after three new cases were confirmed on Tuesday.

“We anticipate that at some point we will get a clearer idea on when the Family Islands will be slated for it. There’s a number of persons who are interested and want to take it when it becomes available but as it stands now, we are in standby mode,” she said.

Asked if residents on the Abaco cays will be able to get vaccinated in their respective communities, she replied: “They do have the mechanisms in place to facilitate because we have medical staff in all of these areas or satellite clinics so they do have the network in place that they can execute.”

Exuma administrator, Debra Moxey-Rolle also could not definitively say which sites will be used to carry out vaccination exercises on the island but suggested that one could be the Exuma healthcare centre.

She said: “We have a wonderful facility at the Exuma Healthcare Centre and we also have a few private doctors on the island, and I don’t see any issues there.”

She also said many Exuma residents have been educating themselves on the vaccination process ahead of its arrival.

“The overall response is the residents (are) arming themselves with the information available and that we have some people who are prepared to take it but it’s a personal decision being made and I think everyone is weighing it based on their person health decision and it looks to me that some have made the decision that they will stay home but I think it’s primarily personal decisions being made.”

Exuma has recorded 122 COVID-19 cases.

Meanwhile, in Inagua, there is a sense of vaccine hesitancy among locals there.

The island’s administrator, Marlon Leary told The Tribune: “The few people who I spoke to, there is some scepticism about the (vaccine). There are some people concerned about the side effects.”

Mr Leary said he has not yet heard from health officials concerning the island’s vaccination plan. However, he is confident that the island will be prepared whenever the jabs land on Inagua.

“We have one health care facility and that’s the local clinic and whenever the health professionals get to do their due diligence, we will review all the information and some. Determinations will be made on which sites will be used etc,” he said.

“But, whenever, it arrives, we will be ready and that’s the confidence I have in my healthcare team here and all my departments.”

The Bahamas began vaccinating its citizens against COVID-19 last week, prioritising healthcare workers, residents and staff of eldercare homes, people age 60 and older and those in the uniformed branches, etc.

The nation’s vaccination campaign was officially rolled out in New Providence last Wednesday and in Grand Bahama on Monday.

Deputy chair of the National COVID-19 Vaccine Consultative Committee Ed Fields has said the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines on the Family Islands will be dependent on several factors, including supply.

“As the supply is limited, (it will be) based on the impact COVID is having on the respective islands and as supplies allow,” he said.

Officials from the Pan American Health Organisation said on Tuesday that regional member states, including The Bahamas, can expect to receive their COVAX generated vaccines by the end of this week. The Bahamas is set to receive 33,600 doses out of 100,800 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from the agency purchased by the government through PAHO’s COVAX facility.

The remainder of the vaccines are expected to arrive in May.