The Chief Minister has ruled out giving vaccines as a priority to Steam Packet crew members.

Howard Quayle was asked in the House of Keys this week about what measures should be taken to protect essential service workers from the risk of Covid transmission.

Chris Robertshaw (Douglas East) pointed out that two thirds of Steam Packet staff live in the UK and one third in the Isle of Man and there is inevitable interaction between the two groups on the ferry.

He suggested it was worth reviewing the issue to ensure the ferry service does not become a ’back door to bringing the infection into the Isle of Man’.

Mr Quayle replied that he’d had concerns himself because the boat is the main route to the island, and he had personally been down unannounced to see how the security system works.

He said he was satisfied that appropriate procedures are in place.

Mr Quayle said the director of public health and members of the Covid response team had met Packet representatives to discuss the crew’s safety plans, ’particularly with regard to isolation requirements, and as per their risk assessments which sit behind the exemption certificate’.

’They were satisfied with the procedures that the Steam Packet had put in place and I hope that reassures the honourable member,’ he said.

The Chief Minster added: ’You could argue that someone stacking shelves in Marks & Spencer has greater contact with the public than maybe someone on the Steam Packet boat would, from a sheer volume of numbers. Where do we draw the line? I get that some people will feel that they are at a risk and they want the vaccine.’

Post Office chairman Julie Edge (Onchan) pointed out that postal workers also provide an essential service and suggested they should be given consideration in future as a priority for the jab.

Mr Quayle replied there will be all sorts of people demanding priority and they will all be given the vaccine as soon as possible - and he would update MHKs if the advice changed.

He said the whole point of the vaccination priority groups is to ensure that those who are at the most likelihood of dying get the jab first.

It was logical that those working among these high risk groups are also given priority for the vaccine under the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) guidelines, he added.

Mr Quayle said: ’If we add the Steam Packet to automatically get the vaccination, we would only be able to do our own people, because you would have to be registered with a GP on the Isle of Man, we would not be able to do the UK ones.

’But it is based on risk and the assessment of our team.’

Health Minister David Ashford said: ’So far, we have made reference to Post Office workers, people working in certain education environments, the Steam Packet and airline staff.

’If we were to go down that route then we would be vaccinating a lot of people, meaning that those within the priority groups who are at risk of death would actually have to wait longer for their vaccination, which is exactly why we actually follow the JCVI principles.’