Booster shots for the vaccine against Covid-19 are “number one on the list” for the Government’s immunisation committee.

Kim Wilson, the health minister, said the committee would meet this week to discuss “how it will be distributed and when”.

She noted the British Government had moved this week to offer the booster to those over aged 50.

She said the decision on administering the third jab would be revealed as soon as it was made.

The island’s supply of the Pfizer vaccine is down to about 230 shots, and Ms Wilson said there was no fixed date for the next shipment.

But she reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to supply Bermuda and other Overseas Territories with stocks of the vaccine “to meet the demands of the population”.

Wesley Miller, the Bermuda Hospitals Board chief of staff, said the hospital had 21 staff confirmed positive for the virus, 17 of them unvaccinated.

“I can see in many quarters there is frustration as to the fact that we do not have 100 per cent vaccination,” he said.

“Unfortunately, the challenge is we are not in a position to mandate that because of our legislative system.

“One hospital in London announced it on an afternoon and they had reversed it by the next morning. My suspicion is they recognised they were not in a position to enforce that.”

Dr Miller took aim at a “false narrative” that vaccinated people were spreading the virus.

He said: “Nothing could be farther from the truth.

“People who are vaccinated serve as protection for themselves and also protection for relatives and others around them.”

He added: “The spread is really from unvaccinated people. They are the ones who not only suffer personally but create great suffering for their loved ones and workmates and others around them.

“Had more people taken up the vaccine earlier when it was available, we would see more people partying now rather than running scared because Covid-19 is running rampant in the community.”