Three people involved in the fight against COVID-19 received the first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine on Wednesday.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George and coordinators of the national vaccine campaign, Dr Elizabeth Ferdinand and Major David Clarke of the Barbados Defence Force (BDF) were vaccinated.
At the COVID-19 media conference later in the day, both Ferdinand and Clarke confirmed they received the jab and said they were showing no side effects to that point.
Clarke said 30 people were vaccinated on Wednesday, including members of his team at the BDF and some students of the University of the West Indies. They will continue tomorrow with the Table of Precedence and should be at full capacity by Monday.
He gave some more details on how the vaccine project would be rolled out.
Teams of nine people will operate from the island’s nine polyclinics. There will be a medical doctor on hand to educate and manage the process. After those eligible – frontline workers, security, government and so on – arrive at the centre, they will be registered. The vaccination will be given and there will be a mandatory 15-minute period for observation. A card will be issued with the return date for the second dose.
There will also be mobile teams, drive through teams and clinics at static locations for areas where there is no polyclinic to expedite the process.
Meanwhile, Dr Ferdinand said there are ten doses in each vial of vaccine. Each dose is 0.5 millilitres and it will be administered in the deltoid muscle in the shoulder.
She added, in order to achieve herd immunity, about 60 to 70 per cent of the population should be vaccinated, but in the meantime, people should continue to wash hands, sanitise and practice physical distancing.
On Tuesday evening, Barbados received 100 000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from India. (SAT)
