Nursing homes call for combined delivery of flu and third Covid-19 booster jabs

The nursing home sector is pushing for the Health Service Executive to plan a combined early rollout of flu jabs and third Covid-19 vaccine boosters ahead of another possible winter wave of the virus.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has signalled that his department is working on plans for a potential severe early flu season coinciding with another possible surge of Covid-19 infections.

Nursing Homes Ireland, the representative body for the private nursing home owners, is in discussions with the HSE about making preparations for a further round of vaccinations – a fifth dose overall or third booster – for nursing home residents at the same time as their annual flu jabs.

“If there was to be a third booster dose, then we need to have the infrastructure ready to go. That is what we are talking to the HSE about, having a joint approach for the 600 nursing homes across the country,” said Tadhg Daly, chief executive of Nursing Homes Ireland.

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Mr Daly said it “makes sense” to roll out this year’s flu jabs and a third booster dose to nursing home residents aged 65 and over “in tandem” if a further dose was advised to the Government.

Australian experience

On Wednesday, Mr Donnelly said the potential “perfect storm” of a severe flu season and a further Covid-19 wave may result in combined flu and Covid vaccine jabs taking place earlier this year to prepare for the autumn and winter season when hospitals are under most strain.

Australia is experiencing a dual spike in Covid-19 and flu cases in a “twindemic” during their current winter season, offering a warning of what may be in store for Europe this winter.

The latest Covid-19 statistics suggest the summer wave may have peaked, with a decline in the number of new outbreaks and a reduction in the number of people in hospital with the virus.

The seven-day positivity rate on official PCR tests has been steadily falling for the past fortnight. It stood at 29 per cent on Thursday, down from 38.5 per cent just over two weeks ago.

Outbreak number

There were 49 newly notified deaths of people with Covid-19 in the week to July 20th.

The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in hospital fell for the third consecutive day, with 740 people in hospital with the virus, down from 782 on Wednesday.

While the number of outbreaks fell to 94 overall in the week ending July 16th, down from 116 the previous week, the number of new outbreaks in nursing homes rose to 39 from 27. There were 25 new hospital outbreaks notified to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, down from 30.

Mr Daly said the number of nursing home outbreaks was of “no great concern at the minute” as the number of cases was low and the symptoms mild compared with previous waves.

The National Immunisation Advisory Committee has yet to make a decision on whether to recommend second booster doses for the general population. Second boosters are only being administered currently to people aged 65 and older and people with weakened immune systems.

The latest figures show that Co Offaly, Co Laois and Co Tipperary had the highest rates of Covid-19 while Co Mayo, Co Longford and Co Monaghan had the lowest incidence rates of the disease.