Covid-19: Care home manager gets Isle of Man's first vaccine

Care home manager Sandie Hannay has become the first person to receive a Covid-19 vaccine on the Isle of Man.

The 55-year-old was given the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine as the roll-out of the coronavirus vaccine programme began at Noble's Hospital.

"Everybody should be stepping up and getting the vaccine," she said.

Health Minister David Ashford said starting the programme was "an absolutely massive step" in the island's fight against coronavirus.

The government has said front-line health care workers and care home staff will be the first to get the jabs, followed by care home residents and people aged over 80.

About 4,500 workers are expected to receive the first dose over the next six to eight weeks.

Ms Hannay said she was "looking forward" to getting her second dose of the vaccine on 25 January.

She said she was "happy" to have received something which will "protect the vulnerable people in the community".

She added that she would recommend the vaccine to everybody, because "if it's going to protect, it's better than the alternative, isn't it?"

"It's got to be better than contracting Covid."

There are currently six trays of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on the island and the health department plans to administer about 300 each day, in three-day tranches, over the next three weeks, before repeating the process for the second dose.

Mr Ashford said the further roll-out of the programme would be dependent on deliveries of stock and the UK's decision to increase the time between doses to 12 weeks was "being assessed by public health".

He also said it was "still impossible to say" if the current two-case Covid-19 cluster on the island had spread into the wider community, but added that as the average time for those infected to develop symptoms was between five and six days, it was likely a symptomatic case would have been found if it had been passed on.

More than 200 Covid-19 test results were returned on Sunday, all of which were negative.

By Catherine Nicoll, BBC Isle of Man

The much anticipated roll-out of a Covid-19 vaccine on the Isle of Man is seen by many as a step towards reuniting families separated by the island's border closure.

Life on the island has largely gone back to normal since the lifting of social distancing rules in June, but non-residents are still mostly banned from visiting.

The Manx government delayed the start of vaccination until January to make sure it had sufficient quantities of the Pfizer/Biotech drug, but its continued supply will be proportional to the island's population and no date has been set for the delivery of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

Orders for both have been placed, but with some 84,000 residents in need of vaccination, it is still not clear when the full programme will be completed.

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