Many non-essential workers and unauthorized residents of the British Virgin Islands were today able to secure their first dose of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine ahead of healthcare and frontline workers who should have been first in line, as mandated in Phase 1 of the vaccination rollout plan.
Videos and pictures circulating on social media confirmed a dense lineup of residents who were informed of the opportunity by word of mouth, some of whom were vaccinated.
A newly immunized resident said “I heard about it quite by chance and called the East End clinic to verify. Was told to come on down. Still meant standing in the hot sun for 3 hours but i got through. About 50 people behind me didn’t.”
Many are outraged that persons were inoculated ahead of the priority groups and are now questioning the medical database system that was set in place to ensure a smooth roll out.
One BVI resident said “A bit confused here. Not seeing any healthcare professionals, elderly folk, or first responders… many have signed up and have yet to receive their appointments. Are these folks in the priority group?!”
An elderly resident who fell into the phase 1 group added “we are in our middle 70’s and could not get the vaccine but they were giving out tickets to people in their 30’s. The girl at the hospital said she had not been told to see to seniors first. We came away disgusted”
Speaking on the matter to our newsroom tonight was acting Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Ronald Georges who said “from the pictures I saw the clinic was obviously mobbed by persons not included in the Phase I group and the staff would have been under immense pressure. From reports they handled the situation well. As stated it is incumbent on persons to respect the process and do their civic duty by allowing those designated to be at the head of the queue to be vaccinated first.”
When questioned on whether medical professionals were utilizing a verification system to ensure that the right categories were dealt with first, Dr. Georges said “That was a what they are supposed to be doing. As I said we are still learning from the BVIHSA as to what transpired.”
Even though some vaccines were administered today at the Parham clinic, other persons were turned away shortly after 3:30pm and told to return after another day.
Since the official rollout of the vaccination plan on February 11th, many persons have utilized the registration portal via the Government’s website to sign up for the vaccine.
However, in light of today’s happenings it is clear that some of those applicants were bypassed. They were never contacted.
Government’s press release initially stated that they will focus on “frontline workers including health care workers, police, customs, immigration, and fire department officers over the following next week and a half.”
“Additional groups of frontline workers, elderly persons, and those with chronic diseases and most at risk will also be accommodated,” the statement added.
Despite today’s ordeal Dr. Ronald Georges is pleased that residents are optimistic about the Covid-19 vaccines.
“It is encouraging to see that many persons are interested in getting vaccinated and do their part to reduce the impact of the virus on the Territory. We are in Phase 1 of Essential and Frontline workers’ vaccination, after which we will move on to Phase II those over 60 and with underlying conditions. Clearly a large number of persons outside of these groups are very anxious to get vaccinated and presented at vaccination locations.”
“Persons are encouraged to exercise patience and proceed in an orderly manner and await to be scheduled in their respective phases as the vaccination centers are brought on line,” Dr. Georges added.
More details to come on tomorrow’s 6pm newscast via our Facebook page “284 Media”.
The territory has so far secured 8,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the United Kingdom.
It is unclear how many vaccines were administered to date.