Scores of Barbadians took advantage of walk-in COVID-19 vaccination centres at St Paul’s Primary School and the Barbados Landship Dock in St Michael yesterday.
However, co-coordinator of the National COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign, public health specialist Dr Elizabeth Ferdinand, said this week they would be refocusing their efforts on reducing the backlog of appointments.
“Today is our trial at a pop-up clinic because we wanted to see what the response would be like. We’ve had about 150 people registered so far to have their vaccines.
“We only have one team here [Landship Dock] today because we didn’t expect such a large crowd, but everything has been orderly and we are happy to see everybody come out to get their vaccine.
“We’ve had to suspend the appointment system from this week because we wanted to clear the backlog and be up-to-date, so we will be introducing a new appointment system within a week or two. And next week we will be concentrating on those who registered already but have not had theirs,” Ferdinand said.
She made those comments while at the Landship Dock at Licorish Village, St Michael where scores of people were in line to be vaccinated.
During a cellphone interview, co-coordinator of the campaign Major David Clarke of the Barbados Defence Force said the areas were chosen after the Ministry of Health carried out intense COVID-19 testing.
“It’s for the people in those catchment areas to come and get their first vaccine. It’s based on the areas that the Ministry of Health have identified as areas we should vaccinate.
“In terms of where we have hotspots. . . It is a part of a linked operation where testing is done first and once results have come back, then we design the pop-up clinic,” he said.
In a press conference yesterday Senator Jerome Walcott, chairman of Cabinet’s COVID-19 Sub-Committee, said authorities were also doing random testing. (TG)
