Public health nurses Tedisha Gordon (left) and Jenneke van Bussel with the special freezer to store the Moderna vaccines.
SABA--Preparations for COVID-19 vaccination are progressing well in Saba. Registration continues with so far more than 900 persons having signed up to receive the Moderna vaccine when it arrives on the island shortly after February 15.
Vaccination of the adult population will take place at Eugenius Johnson Community Center in Windwardside, stated Public Health Department head Dr. Koen Hulshof. Persons living in the elderly home will be vaccinated at the home.
Some 1,400 vaccines will come to Saba in the first batch, enough for the entire adult population. Persons who have registered will be contacted and informed about the specific date and timeslot for the vaccination.
It will take an estimated six to seven days to vaccinate Saba’s adult population. The shipment of the Moderna vaccine for the necessary second vaccination should arrive four weeks after the first.
The Public Health Department and Saba Health Care Foundation (SHCF) are working hard behind the scenes to prepare everything for the vaccinations. A lot of logistics are being handled and trainings have been and are still taking place to ensure safe vaccination, said Hulshof. He asked people to be a bit patient, because it is a new process and quite a logistical challenge to vaccinate so many people in such a short time.
“We hope that as many people as possible will decide to get vaccinated. We have to be realistic: the coronavirus will not go away, and we will have to accept that it will come to the island from time to time. In order to protect yourself and the people around you, it is important to get vaccinated,” said Hulshof.
Vaccination is also important to get some normalcy back in the healthcare referrals abroad. Many medical referrals of patients outside of Saba have been postponed and/or delayed in the past year due to COVID-19. It is essential to restore these medical referrals in the interest of people’s health, Hulshof said.
Getting vaccinated also means having some freedom back for the people: being able to travel again to see loved ones abroad, going off-island to “get a breather,” said Hulshof. More than 100 million vaccinations have been administered worldwide.
In some countries, the COVID-19 numbers already appear to be going down as a result of vaccination.
Island Governor Jonathan Johnson encouraged people to be vaccinated. “I will surely get a vaccination and I’m calling on people to make an informed decision.”
In the period leading up to the vaccination, the population will continue to be informed. This is being done in different languages for specific target groups. The Public Health Department has a tel. 416-5373 hotline where people can ask questions and obtain information.
The freezer in which the vaccines will be stored has already been installed and will be validated this week. Public health nurses Tedisha Gordon and Jenneke van Bussel will start the process of validation on Thursday. They will use a checklist to test the freezer and make sure that it meets the standards set by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment RIVM in the Netherlands.
The freezer has to continuously keep a temperature of about minus 20 degrees Celsius, the storage temperature for the Moderna vaccine. The results of the validation will be sent to the RIVM.
The delegation of the RIVM and the Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sport VWS which visited Saba last month was satisfied with the preparations that have taken place.
