Dr Ivan Muscat was responding to a question during this week’s ‘Ask the Experts’ livestream, about whether Jersey would follow Norway’s lead in reclassifying Covid as having the same level of threat as flu.
The deputy medical officer of health agreed that Covid was less of a threat than it once was, but was still classed as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation, the UK and the European Union.
He said: ‘We are all travelling in that direction and looking at the question of when to say that Covid has moved from pandemic to endemic.
‘Annual mortality rates from flu are around one in a thousand, and that figure was about the same for the third wave of Covid, but the two aren’t equivalent at all levels, as we do not yet have anti-virals that are active against Covid as with flu.
‘We are edging closer to Covid being a more manageable problem.’
Dr Muscat underlined the importance of Islanders having both their flu jab and Covid booster vaccination when they became eligible.
He added that anyone who had already had Covid should still get a booster in order to have the greatest level of immunity.
Islanders aged 70 and above are already able to have their Covid boosters, with the programme set to be opened up to all over-50s and those with underlying health conditions by the end of October.
Most people would receive a Pfizer booster regardless of which type of vaccine they had been given previously, Dr Muscat confirmed, as a result of studies showing the brand to be the most effective for use as a booster.
Ross Barnes, operations lead, said that booster jabs would be given no earlier than six months after a second dose, and he estimated that the ‘vast majority’ of eligible Islanders would be able to have their Covid booster by mid-November.
Stocks of the adult flu vaccine for the 2021/22 winter are due to arrive in Jersey next week, with vaccination set to start from Monday 11 October.
Some Islanders may be offered a flu jab at the same time as they visit the vaccination centre at Fort Regent for a Covid booster, while others will be able to get their flu jab via their GP surgery.
A further ‘Ask the Experts’ session is set to take place during October, on a date to be confirmed, with a specific focus on children and young people.
