Health & Science

• Thursday, February 4th 2021 - 09:45 UTC

  Falklands announces Covid-19 vaccination program beginning 8 February and for everybody over 50

  

  As the first batch of Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines have arrived in the Falkland Islands, the Falkland Islands Government (FIG) announced it will start the Covid-19 vaccination programme on 8 February. “We plan to administer the first dose for eligible people in a mass vaccination program at the FIDF Hall, with visits out to West Falkland and the Outer Islands. If you live in Camp on East Falkland it would be very helpful if you could travel into Stanley as we will happily vaccinate you whenever you arrive and when the vaccination centre is open,” FIG said on Wednesday in a Press Release.

• Thursday, February 4th 2021 - 09:07 UTC

  COVAX publishes first interim vaccine distribution forecast

  

  The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the World Health Organization, as co-leads of the COVAX initiative for equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines, alongside key delivery partner UNICEF, are pleased to publish COVAX’s first interim distribution forecast.

• Thursday, February 4th 2021 - 09:01 UTC

  Falkland Islands approves changes to quarantine and visitor policies

  

  The Falkland Islands Government Executive Council, ExCo, has done a review of policies, protocols and legislation referred to Covid-19, and announced decisions on quarantine regulations and visitor policies with a change of category for conservation and environmental specialists.

• Wednesday, February 3rd 2021 - 09:30 UTC

  Falklands strict conditions to ensure “clean” vessels operate in the 2021 fishing season

  

  The Falkland Islands government issued a release on Tuesday announcing the “clean” conditions vessels entering territorial waters for the 2021 fishing season must meet, basically a minimum of two weeks quarantining at sea, no Covid-19 cases on board, and no crew members with Covid-19 symptoms.

• Wednesday, February 3rd 2021 - 09:25 UTC

  Russia's Sputnik V vaccine is 91,6% effective, The Lancet

  

  The Russian Sputnik V vaccine is 91.6% effective against Covid 19 in its symptomatic manifestations, according to the medical journal The Lancet . “The trial results show a strong protective effect consistent across all age groups of participants,” the researchers explain.

• Tuesday, February 2nd 2021 - 09:42 UTC

  Falklands receives first batch of 3,000 doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine

  

  The Falkland Islands Government has welcomed the delivery of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine on Monday 1 February 2021. Upon arrival the vaccines were carefully offloaded from the South Atlantic Airbridge and were transported by road to the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, where they were immediately taken to refrigeration units within the hospital.

• Tuesday, February 2nd 2021 - 09:41 UTC

  Falkland Islands' vaccination rollout begins 8 February on a priority list

  

  The Falkland Islands' Executive Council on Monday afternoon approved plans for the Falkland Islands Covid-19 vaccination rollout. The two-phased approach has been developed by KEMH and largely follows the approach recommended by the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and immunization (JCVI), with minor adjustments to suit local circumstances.

• Tuesday, February 2nd 2021 - 09:38 UTC

  Lufthansa lands in Falklands with scientists; returns to Germany on Wednesday

  

  Lufthansa’s longest flight ever has landed in the Falkland Islands. The aircraft departed Hamburg at 21:23 on Sunday, landing at Mount Pleasant Complex at 09:00. The flight, which is also the longest flight to have departed Hamburg, clocked in at 15 hours and 36 minutes.

• Tuesday, February 2nd 2021 - 09:28 UTC

  Pfizer-BioNtech promises 75 million more vaccines to EU in 2021 second quarter

  

  BioNtech-Pfizer has promised to deliver up to 75 million more coronavirus vaccine doses to the EU in the second quarter of 2021, the company's head Sierk Poetting said in a statement on Monday.

• Tuesday, February 2nd 2021 - 09:11 UTC

  Falklands Latam's links to Chile and Brazil suspended until June

  

  The Falkland Islands Government can confirm that commercial air links with both Chile and Brazil will remain suspended for a further three months until 29 June 2021.