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Guernsey's Community Vaccination Centre will open in just over a week's time, the States has revealed, with over 75's to start receiving invitations for a Covid-19 vaccine from today.
The Sir John Loveridge Hall is being fitted out and converted into an environment where healthcare workers will be able to administer thousands of vaccines in the coming months.
The States is expecting 18,525 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 22,070 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to have arrived in Guernsey by the end of March.
Care home residents are currently getting their jabs -having topped the priority list alongside front-line health workers - while people over-80 are being invited to their Primary Care surgeries to receive their first dose.
The Community Vaccination Centre (CVC) is scheduled to open on Monday 25 January, with work to fit out the hall reportedly "progressing well" as the States nears the launch date.
People aged between 75 and 79 will be the first to be vaccinated at Sir John Loveridge Hall. Invitation letters have been sent by post and the first batch are expected to arrive on doorsteps this morning.
Pictured: The priority cohorts and the order in which they will be offered a vaccination against Covid-19.
Everyone vaccinated at the CVC will have a six-week interval between doses - considerably longer than the three to four weeks the current priority cohorts have to wait between doses.
"This is to ensure the most optimal and strategic use is made of the vaccine supply allocated to the Bailiwick in the forthcoming months," said a States spokesperson.
"The gap between doses followed a detailed evaluation of the data regarding the efficacy of the vaccine with differing timing options."
Those who have already received their first dose will still receive their second dose of the vaccine at three or four week intervals - depending on the vaccine delivered - with the States saying that "plans are already in place to support this delivery model and to ensure the resilience of our health and care services."
Pictured: Care home matron Sue Fleming was the first person in the Bailiwick to receive one of the two currently available vaccinations - Pfizer BioNTech and Astra Zeneca - on 17 December.
Once open, the CVC will open between 10:00 and 19:00, five days a week. On week one, it will be open Monday, Tuesday, and then Thursday to Saturday. A pause has been scheduled for the Wednesday to "review and iron out" any snagging issues that emerge in practice.
From then on, the CVC will be open Tuesday to Saturday.
A vaccination call centre has been set up with four call handlers who will be available to book appointments every weekday between 08:00 and 20:00 and every weekend between 08:00 and midday. People are asked to only try to book a vaccination once they have received their invitation.
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