More than 30 people received their second Covid-19 vaccination too early and will have to get a third shot before they are fully immunised.

The Ministry of Health admitted the mistake this evening and also reported two new cases of the virus out of 337 test results.

A health ministry spokeswoman said that the ministry had discovered that 34 people had received the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine earlier than the 21-day requirement. These individuals have been contacted by the Vaccination Centres and a third vaccine will be offered to them 21 days after the second dose.

Ayoola Oyinloye, the Chief Medical Officer, said: “Measures have been put in place to ensure no one receives the second dose of vaccine before 21 days.

He added: “This occurred early in the vaccination process when vaccine recipients made their own appointments rather than medical staff setting up the date and time for second dose appointments, and Centres for Disease Control guidance indicated that a four-day grace period was allowed. Public Health England is advising two days.”

Dr Oyinloye said a standardised Public Health policy has been implemented by the Ministry of Health to keep to the manufacturer’s guidelines of the second dose being administered on day 21 and before the end of 12 weeks.

“I can reassure all those who have been contacted, there is no evidence that the adverse effects after a third dose are different to the well documented side effects,” he said.

The first new case of Covid-19 reported today is a non-resident who arrived on the Delta flight from New York on February 12 and tested positive on their day-four test.

The second new case is a non-resident who arrived on the Jet Blue flight from New York on February 12 and also tested positive on their day-four test.

There have been no recoveries since the last update.

There are currently eight active cases, of which seven are under public health monitoring and one is in the hospital. None are in critical care.

The health ministry also said it is experiencing continuing high demand on its call centre, especially with requests to register to get vaccinated. The ministry apologised for any delays, and asked for callers waiting to be connected to be patient.

Since March 2020, Bermuda has recorded 699 total confirmed cases of Covid-19. Out of those, 679 people have recovered, and 12 have died.

The mean age of all confirmed positive cases is 43 years (median age 40 years), and the ages range from less than one year to greater than 100 years.

The mean age of all currently active cases is 40 years (median age 35 years), and the ages range from less than 20 years (age group: 10 to 29 years) to greater than 70 years (age group: 70-79 years).

To protect privacy and confidentiality, age information will not be provided on the hospitalised cases.

The mean age of all deceased cases is 75 years (median age 77 years), and the ages range from less than 60 years (age group: 50 to 59 years) to greater than 80 years (age group: 80 to 100 years).

The source of all cases is as follows: 205 are imported; 493 are classified as local transmission of which: 402 are local transmission with known contact/source and 91 are local transmission with an unknown contact/source. One is under investigation.

The seven-day average of Bermuda’s real-time reproduction number is less than one, and Bermuda’s current country status is “Sporadic Cases”.

For more information about the vaccine, visit: www.gov.bm/vaccine.