The HSE will start vaccinating most children in the wider 5-11 age group against Covid-19 from Monday, January 10th, after vaccinations begin for high-risk children first next week.

Plans for the extension of the Covid-19 vaccination programme to children aged five to 11 were outlined by the HSE at its weekly Covid-19 briefing on Thursday. Priority is being given initially to high-risk children through Children's Health Ireland and the country's paediatric hospitals from next week.

An online portal will then open for registration for the vaccine from December 28th for all high-risk children in this age cohort as well as for children from families with younger high-risk children or other members at high risk, with vaccinations of these latter two groups starting on January 3rd in vaccination centres.

Hospital Report

All other children aged five to 11 will start to be vaccinated from January 10th.

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Dr Lucy Jessop, director of public health at the National Immunisation Office, said the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (Niac) "very strongly recommends" vaccines for children aged five to 11 who have underlying conditions, who are living with a younger child with complex medical needs or who are living with a person who is immunocompromised.

The list of chronic conditions in question included chronic lung diseases, liver, heart and neurological diseases, cancer, sickle cell disease, and obesity, as well as children who are immunocompromised or may have intellectual disabilities or diabetes, she said.

Four-week wait

Dr Jessop said children who have recently had Covid-19 must wait four weeks before they can get a vaccine, and that children have been advised by Niac not to have any other vaccines for 14 days before or after their Covid-19 vaccine as a precaution.

Paul Reid, chief executive of the HSE, said it would set out final plans to accelerate the booster vaccine programme for people aged under 40 next week.

People aged between 40 and 49 are to receive their booster doses starting on December 27th through vaccination centres, pharmacies, and GP surgeries – three weeks ahead of schedule.

Pregnant women will be able to get their booster doses from this weekend through all three channels, Mr Reid said.

The HSE said that more than 1.3 million boosters had been administered to date, with 50,000 given on Wednesday, a daily record for vaccine doses administered.

Mr Reid said the HSE was on track to complete 1.5 million boosters by Christmas, but would not be drawn on whether the Government’s 2 million target for boosters administered would be met by the end of the year.

As new figures showed that the new, highly contagious Omicron variant now accounted for 27 per cent of new cases in the State, Mr Reid said the health service was at “extremely high risk levels” as cases were at an “extremely high level” going into “the wave of Omicron”.

The HSE is ramping up the booster programme to reduce the threat of the new variant.

‘Very worried’

HSE chief clinical officer Dr Colm Henry said the HSE was "worried" about the impact of Omicron because the World Health Organisation is "very worried" and significant spokespeople for health organisations who have been a "calming influence" in the past "have never been as concerned".

Dr Henry pointed to “emerging concern” in health studies all pointing to Omicron being a variant that is “rapidly going to displace” the Delta variant that is now dominant in Ireland.

The HSE said it would not honour appointments for people under 40 who were given booster appointments by pharmacies by mistake on Wednesday.

Mr Reid said the HSE was focusing on the “most vulnerable who are at risk” first.

On the merits of the State following a ban similar to France’s on British tourists because of Omicron fears, Dr Henry said there was already “secondary spread” of cases here beyond travel.

Mr Reid said he hoped all 1,300 GP surgeries would prioritise vaccinations and that 1,000 pharmacies would be delivering vaccines by January as part of the drive to give boosters to people.