Covid-19: Further 4,004 cases reported, with 111 virus patients in ICU

A further 4,004 cases of Covid-19 were reported in the State on Saturday.

As of 8am, 481 patients with the disease were hospitalised, of whom 111 were in intensive care units (ICU), according to Saturday’s data.

HSE chief executive Paul Reid has refused to say whether the Covid-19 booster will be made available to people aged between 40-49 years by the end of next week despite reports that the rollout could open to this age cohort before Christmas.

Speaking on RTÉ radio following a news bulletin which stated people aged between 40 and 49 could be in line to receive boosters in the coming days, Mr Reid said the rollout to people aged 50 and over, and to to those with underlying conditions, remained the HSE's primary focus.

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Some 2.2 million people are on track to have received their booster by the end of December, with 1.16 million having received the shot to date, he said.

Mr Reid said people waiting for the booster who had been turned away from UCD on Saturday morning were told to go to other vaccination centres in the greater Dublin area that did not have such queues.

"We have resourced up our centres extremely well over the last two weeks and will continue to do so. If you look at our resourcing in total, we have several thousand people now vaccinated across the country," he told RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday with Katie Hannon programme.

“The vast majority of our sites have been coping very well with walk-ins. The centres are generally working through walk-ins pretty well.”

The HSE has extended the hours of walk-in centres, and increased the number of centres offering this service to 33 sites, he said. However, the HSE will continue to prioritise its text appointment system in order to roll out the booster, he added.

GP warning

The latest Covid-19 figures follow a warning from Co Monaghan doctor Shane Corr that Ireland only had "six to eight weeks" to get boosters out to all adults and vaccinate younger children for the first time in order to avoid being completely overrun by the virus.

Dr Corr, from Carrickmacross, said booster shots should be made available to all adults who are due one, depending on the first vaccine they received, and that boosters should not be rolled out by age cohort.

“I really think there has to be a complete sense of urgency throughout this country from now until the end January until everyone is boosted,” Dr Corr told RTÉ’s Brendan O’Connor show on Saturday.

“At this stage it should be the vaccination centres and the pharmacies and the GPs who should be giving patients their booster as and when they become eligible and not be bothering about texting patients.”

Eligible people should be trusted to make their own appointments and attend walk-in centres to avoid wasted vaccine slots, he said.

Dr Corr said his own practice had given more than 350 patients a booster shot last Wednesday, "in the midst of storm Barra when it was pouring rain", based on when they received their last Covid-19 jab.

He and his staff expect to administer another 400 shots this coming Wednesday, he said. “We took it took it upon ourselves from very early on that we wanted to do this and we wanted to continue doing this. We found it’s extremely important for our town and for our patients to make sure that people are vaccinated and vaccinated efficiently.

“Anybody that tells me that people do not want vaccines are absolutely wrong. Irish people have been fantastic in getting their vaccinations.”

‘At war’

In a letter printed in Saturday's Irish Times, Dr Corr questioned why the HSE was "persisting with organising booster shots by specific age cohorts when the actual constraint is the time from when a patient had his/her primary vaccination".

“Age cohorts were (just about) okay in the spring/summer when there was a shortage of vaccines but we have been told for some time now that the country has sufficient stock in place to fully roll out this programme,” he wrote. “We are no longer in this position and surely the logical thing to do now is permit open access to boosters for people who are due one depending on the vaccine they first received.

“We are at war with this virus. War doesn’t stop for Christmas. Speed trumps perfection etc.”

Dr Corr described as “extraordinary” the images of people who had queued for their booster shots being turned away, adding that the message in the Dáil that people were not turning up for their shots was “nonsensical”.

Regarding children, he said some parents were hesitant about getting their children vaccinated but that “tens of thousands of parents” are ready and waiting to get the jab for their kids.

“I really, really can’t understand why that’s not happening next week and all throughout Christmas,” said Dr Corr.

“Let’s get as many people vaccinated as we can as quickly as we can. We’ve been in a race for the last 12 months, the race is getting quicker and shorter. I think we need a total reset. I know Christmas is coming probably a bad time. But let’s just ignore Christmas and just get people vaccinated.”