Just over 9,000 doses — enough for 4,500 people — of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are scheduled to arrive in Bermuda this Friday [Jan 8], and the Ministry will begin administering the vaccine on Monday [Jan 11] to healthcare workers, essential workers, and seniors in rest homes and long-term care facilities.
This was from Health Minister Kim Wilson at this evening’s press conference, with the Minister saying: “I am pleased to confirm that just over 9,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are scheduled to arrive in Bermuda on the British Airways flight this Friday 8 January 2021. Once the vaccines arrive on island, they will be taken immediately to a storage facility.
“The Ministry will begin administering the vaccine doses on Monday 11 January 2021, to healthcare and essential workers who agree to take the vaccine.
“In this context, essential frontline workers are those who provide services which prevent social disruption and allow society to function and who are also at risk for higher levels of exposure to COVID-19. This includes firemen, police, corrections officers, personnel at the ports of entry and teachers.
“We will also administer the first batch of the vaccine to our most vulnerable, seniors (who give their consent), in rest homes and long-term care facilities. There is no cost for the vaccine and they will be administered at sites arranged by the Department of Health and with primary care physicians who have been approved by the Department of Health.
“The vaccine will be given in two doses; the first dose will be given next week and for those people the second dose will be given three weeks later. The rollout of the vaccine will proceed along those lines: the first dose, then the second dose administered three weeks later. For the vaccine to be fully effective, two doses are required.
“The vaccine developed by Pfizer/BioNTech has been approved for use in the UK after meeting strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness set out by the independent Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, which follows international standards of safety. The vaccine has also been approved for use in the United States by the US Food and Drug Administration.
“Thousands of people have been given a COVID-19 vaccine so far, and no serious side effects or complications have been reported.
“Earlier today, the Ministry of Health held a mock vaccination trial exercise at the Hamilton Seventh Day Adventist Church.
“This was a small exercise designed to provide an opportunity for the Department of Health and relevant partners to assess our ability to document vaccine administration events using the 10 to 8 appointment system and the electronic immunization registry. The drill was limited to the simulated movement of patients through the vaccination process.
“We will have post-exercise debriefings tomorrow to evaluate the exercise and determine what tweaks and improvement are necessary,” the Minister added.
