Under 800 vaccine courses left
(CNS): Cayman will have to wait at least one week, possibly two, before it gets more vaccines but it will likely run out of the COVID-19 shot tomorrow. This will stall the National Vaccine Programme, which has seen a rush of those in the first group take up the voluntary shot. Just a week after the first batch of Pfizer vaccines arrived and public health officials began vaccinating the most vulnerable people, there are less than 800 courses left.
On Thursday evening officials confirmed that 4,096 people have received the first dose of the double shot vaccine.
Posting on Facebook earlier this week, Governor Martyn Roper urged patience regarding the second batch of vaccines.
“We await confirmation from the UK of our next batch, hopefully before the end of the month,” he said, noting that vaccine supplies are limited the world over. “We are fortunate to be receiving supplies. Production is stepping up and the UK’s commitment to supplying the OTs remains firm. But limited supplies means we will get a proportionate amount of what the UK has available relative to our population. So we will have to remain patient.”
It is unclear whether Cayman will received more Pfizer vaccines when the next batch arrives or the Oxford-AztraZeneca shot, which was created in the UK.
Cayman has made a commitment to saving the second doses for those who received the first shot to ensure that these first vulnerable groups get the maximum immunity from the shots.
As a result, having received just 9,750 last week, enough for 4875 people, the first shots of the course are likely to be finished tomorrow.
Meanwhile, on Thursday evening the chief medical officer reported just one positive case of the coronavirus among the 206 daily test results in an individual traveller who was said to be asymptomatic. Going forward, everyone arriving in the Cayman Islands is now expected to have a negative test result that is less than three days old before boarding the plane.
While there are expectations this will reduce the number of positive individuals arriving, travellers will still be tested on arrival and may still be positive if they developed the infection during the period between taking the test and arriving in Cayman.
There are currently 40 active cases of the virus among the 1,290 people in isolation, six of whom have symptoms of COVID-19.
Category: Health, Medical Health
I have just read several FB and other social media pages that show non-essential or low risk individuals bragging about getting the vaccine ahead of those allocated by the government.
There is even a rumour of an American lady, who arrived recently, does not have residential status and who has only just cleared quarantine, getting a dose from EE clinic. This is dishonesty at its worst and it must stop.
This is disgusting behaviour by all concerned and in any right thinking country a National scandal.
We need government to insist that ID is produced and due diligence given when assessing someone’s entitlement.
I’ve spoken to police officers and others who worked all through curfew, not knowing what may happen here but doing their duty anyway. And they continue to follow the rules to their own detriment as they were scheduled to receive the vaccine on Tuesday. I hope you shameful chancers are proud.
When will they conduct home visits to vaccinate the elderly 95+?
Just to add to the uncertainty, this is where the UK/Cayman get the vaccine.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/15/world/covid19-coronavirus/upgrades-will-take-pfizers-main-european-vaccine-plant-offline-for-weeks-stirring-outrage-in-the-region
23 dead in Norway from Pfizer vaccine jab. Should we be worried?
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1384728/Covid-vaccine-latest-side-effects-Pfizer-jab-23-dead-Norway-coronavirus-update
CNS: Only if you are extremely frail and at the end of your life, according to all the articles that I have read about the Norwegian deaths. It is currently being investigated to see if a link exists between the deaths of very elderly frail people and the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, which may result in a change in who gets vaccinated or which vaccine they get. Another threat is people not in this category overreacting and not taking the vaccine.
So pretty much the same as the virus itself then CNS.
CNS: It would be tragic if some of the most vulnerable to covid – the elderly – were not able to take the vaccine. But we should wait to see the outcome of the investigation. I haven’t heard of deaths in other countries, so maybe this is an outlier, and it is one of a number of vaccines.
Well perhaps they should rethink.
Here is from the UK press.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13757257/norway-pfizer-covid-vaccine-deaths/
Don’t believe what you read in the Sun
The silence of US press is deafening on these deaths. Infact they are ignoring the deaths. Pfizer themselves are investigating the 23 deaths… it’s reported in the financial press and Norewegian news papers.
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/
202101/1212939.shtml
When the Sun said lockdown, you were all over them. Leave it out, Prosser.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1384728/Covid-vaccine-latest-side-effects-Pfizer-jab-23-dead-Norway-coronavirus-update
Nor the Express.
Page 3 used to be pretty accurate
it is infuriating to see what has happened over the last few days regarding the vaccines. and to make things worst, the announcement of the BA flights being called only means that Cayman will not be getting the vaccines at the end of this month. for you idiots that know HSA staff and took priority when it wasn’t your turn, a big F you!
supermarket staff worked their butt off while we were on lockdown. we fed you. we put our lives at risk every single day. and yet we got turned away for taking the shots. but constructor workers for white rich folks, ac maintenance guys, gardeners and so forth were able to get them.
HSA needs to be held accountable for this serious breach of the national policy!
Yes. I know of many who knows someone who works at the hospital who got them in. It’s sad that those who need it can’t get it because of a few self centered ignoramus.
BA flights will still be coming in
So far I know a lot of lawyers and accountants that have been vaccinated. How did this happen?
I hope those who grabbed the vaccine without fulfilling the given criteria, are now so proud that many first responders and other essential public facing groups are now denied. After working all through the curfews, not knowing if the virus would break out in deadly fashion, you now push yourselves to the front of the queue.
Well done you self entitled fools, well done.
Where are Sir Craig and Sir Vernie now?
I’m a first responder and it was interesting to see many others that were not in the categories for that day in line and being given shots. Travel Agents, Real Estate Agents, Office workers…etc…..
Selfish pricks posting photos of themselves on facebook “getting the jab” while taking that space from people that really need it. Oh yes and the stupid people working that did not vet them.
but according to news…australia is holding off on the aztrazeneca vaccine as it proved less efficacy in their country? they waiting on pfizer? but to tell u the truth i would rather aztrazaneca as it done from a chimpanzee influenza
Australia are only holding off on the AstraZeneca vaccine because India has blocked the delivery
Of course it can take years to ramp up industrial-scale production, and roll-out a vaccination program at the best of times. This was never a scenario where the Cayman Islands would be anywhere near “open for business” in a few weeks. I would hope that the CMO explains this slowly, and methodically, to the Cabinet and Governor so that they can publicly walk-back their premature unrealistic messaging as soon as possible. In their defense, the pace of reopening was never going to be up to us.
Canada won’t even begin their wider vaccination program until April, when they, best case, expect to be receiving up to 1 million doses a month for the country. At that pace, assuming 100% uptake, it would still take the better part of a year to give the first vaccinations to Canadians, and they still wouldn’t be vaccinated to a level where they might be eligible to fly to the Cayman Islands.
In the meantime, conditions get worse and worse, with states of emergency globally and several new variants – some of which may adapt resilience to the current vaccines. We need to manage everyone’s expectations carefully. We might not even be halfway through this yet.
«In the meantime, conditions get worse and worse…» This is an emotional, not factual statement. Censored mainstream media data doesn’t count.
This is how they count: If I die of a heart attack it will go down as covid, but if i have the vaccine and die, then it will go down as heart attack.
CNS: Blanket dismissal, even demonization, of the main stream media is one of the elements that has resulted in the madness currently overwhelming the USA. It was a ploy of a president with autocratic tendencies and all of his flunkies so that people believed him and his BS instead of hardworking journalists. Among other results, the death toll from in the USA is now approaching 400,000. More than 4,000 died yesterday. (Source: the CDC)
You need to get over it. If you don’t believe this in the LA Times, or this on FOX5 in Atlanta, you are just part of the problem and should probably seek help to get out of the cult you are in. The nonsense has to end.
Your second sentence has been debunked so many times, I’m not bothering with it here. Just accept that covid is real, it spreads very quickly and can be devastating to the individuals who get it and to the communities where it takes hold.
Well said CNS. ‘So tired of the misinformation.
My thumbs up is for the CNS clapback.
The UK has announced that they have 24million doses of the combined AZ and Pf vaccines in stock. I think they may be finally getting it together. At least better than most countries, and certainly the EU which is demonstrating its inability to surmount its own BS.
Canada, that’s what you get when you vote for a Liberal Snowflake whose more interested in fringe groups than the entire population.
Thanks to all the selfish people who were allowed to jumpy the queue ahead of the priority groups. And thanks to HSA for allowing this to happen. Absolutely ridiculous that young healthy people and visitors were vaccinated ahead of front liners and those more vulnerable to COVID. They better enforce the program better with the next round of vaccines. Start by asking more questions and checking information on consent form including confirmation that people are actually in the current category and that they are residents and not visitors.
I believe that at the last briefing Alden said that they were going to vaccinate visitors because they wanted vaccinated people in the community. It makes no sense to me because those people will leave and then we just end up with an even lower percentage of the population that are vaccinated. Fine if there was an endless supply of vaccines but obviously they are in very short supply. Also those people will be able to get vaccinated in their home country but we have no choice but to wait for more vaccines. It’s frustrating to know that they’ve vaccinated people that might leave in a few weeks before people in their sixties.
I would suggest there is a bigger question of why ‘visitors’ are here at all at this time of ‘TravelTime’?
Well, who is the presiding Heath Minister, let’s hold them to account….oh right.
I am 66 years old and told that I was not eligible but then some younger people (lawyers, accountants and friends of politicians/goverment employees) were taken care of. Up to now I do not know when a senior citizen like myself will be able to receive the vaccine. Guess the privileged people will be done before us senior citizens.
Exactly! Why should visitors be receiving vaccinations unselfishly sent here by the UK?
Nice job! Using those up so quickly speaks volumes of the efficiency of the vaccination program.
Hopefully, the UK will send more quickly.
Red Hot Chili Peppers rollout plan, “Give it away now…”
The UK has allocated less than 10% of its vaccine count for London. I am skeptical the Cayman Islands will be getting any more right now, at anywhere near the pace that the CI Flu Clinic presumed initially, and especially after mis-managing the first patient doses. Has nobody watched Contagion on Netflix?!? This is the part of the movie where it turns into the dystopian Mad Max nightmare as people fight for vaccines.
You understand the original Mad Max movie was set in 2021.
And filmed in a town called Anakie just outside Geelong.
This is not true! There are more than 5000 units left. Vaccinations will continue on the basis that the second doses will be administered from the next batch expected at the end of the month.
Pure BS. CNS can you correct this.
CNS: The commenter is conflating the number of shots left with the number of courses available and deliberately ignoring this part of the article:
“It is unclear whether Cayman will received more Pfizer vaccines when the next batch arrives or the Oxford-AztraZeneca shot, which was created in the UK.
“Cayman has made a commitment to saving the second doses for those who received the first shot to ensure that these first vulnerable groups get the maximum immunity from the shots.”
No other commenter was confused by the article. He/she is either not very bright or is being mischievous.
Correct. A first dose would certainly be better than no dose. In fact, a half first dose might even perform better than a full first dose. Maybe a third of a dose is effective too? We don’t know. The second booster can be done as early as 21 days after first, or up to months after first dose. Vaccinated immunity is seen to be lasting 5 months only, from a SIREN trial published 2 days ago. The UK’s shifting priority is to administer the first dose to as many “at risk” people as possible, because thousands of taxpayers are dying, and tens of thousands expected to follow them in the next couple months.
I think you will find that the 5 months immunity relates to the immunity those who been infected have after recovery. No figures are available yet for the vaccines.
If you don’t know the facts, please be quiet and stop talking nonsense.
Units, not courses you dimwit.
If the UK only send AZ courses next time, because they are more easily available, how do those awaiting the second jab of Pf get it if all 10k get used up.
Cayman education at its best.
We need to just accept that there is no prospect of anything other than extended stay (month plus) tourists for the remainder of this year and prepare accordingly. Ideas of open borders before summer are dangerous illusions. Unemployed tourism workers need to get redeployed where possible, not paid off by government to keep quiet until a reopening that will not be happening anytime soon.
A $1mln giveaway to farmers, but NICE program can’t retain their crews to paint the bike lanes. Now is the “slow time” to redevelop and invest in critical and promised/budgeted infrastructure, take pressure off roads, and increase quality of life. What are we waiting for?!?
We should have brought in pre arrival negative test requirement months ago. It’s shocking that it has taken so long to bring in this obvious and simple protection to our front line workers
So what? We didn’t, we have now. Get over it. CIG have, amazingly, done an incredible job so far.
CIG have been told to do this by the FCO, you deluded fool.
Ever go to the hospital on any given day and see the people that are there? Those are probably the same ones that skipped ahead of the line and had their first shot.
Nobody was questioned if wearing “scrubs”, and they were allowed to bring in their families to get vaccinated too. Someone should FOI the consent form data to see who exactly got these, and which gatekeeper signed-off. It’s at minimum immoral travesty, and at worst criminal. Are any of us surprised?
It couldn’t be because certain politicians, up for re-election this year, were going around encouraging everyone to get jabbed and handing out consent forms in the process?
Probably because no real plan to vaccinate vulnerable s etc. one woman from my work walked into the clinic and was given it no questions asked. Old people all over the island still waiting
The schedule was announced and vulnerable people should have gone as soon as it was their turn. I know my parents didn’t hesitate! They went Day 1 during the time slot designated for the surname.
Motley crew talking through both sides of their mouths.
They say the vulnerable will be vaccinated first for tourism PR and vote grooming. (Election coming; red carpet image and appearances always on point)
Then, allow first come, first serve basis and make the public fend for themselves while supply is limited. But, what is really backwards is giving to tourists when their own countries have millions more doses either coming or going. But the local community is so important….smh.
No clear plan is no plan. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist. Priorities are clear as day, and I know who mine are.
Well done for your parents. Still didn’t stop others going that should not have received!
so we never really had a vaccination plan?…and still obviously don’t. classic stuff from no-plan-ppm.
for those blaming supply…just look to israel (obviously not our home land)