Delivery of flu vaccines to Ireland delayed by two weeks, says HSE

The delivery of the State’s supply of flu vaccines has been delayed by two weeks due to the impact of Covid-19, medical professionals have been told.

In a communication sent on Wednesday to GPs and pharmacists, the Health Service Executive wrote that drug manufacturer Sanofi, which is making the vaccine, has "informed us that the release of this season's flu vaccine will be delayed by two weeks".

"This is an administrative delay due to the impact of Covid-19," the HSE wrote, and not a production or quality issue. Ireland will receive stock from the first released batches, the HSE said.

A spokeswoman for the HSE said, however, that despite the delay it is anticipated that the vaccine will be available at a similar time as previous flu seasons. “This year it had been planned to deliver flu vaccines earlier than previous seasons. Annually, Ireland starts delivering flu vaccine earlier than other EU jurisdictions and it is expected that this will also happen this year as Ireland will receive doses from the first-released batches.”

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“The administration of seasonal flu vaccine will not impact on Covid-19 planning,” the spokeswoman said.

It comes after HSE chief executive Paul Reid said that the service was "anxious" to significantly increase the number of healthcare workers taking up the vaccine. Last year, he told the Oireachtas Covid-19 committee, that take-up was around 60 per cent across the whole system.

“Vaccination at this time is not just good to have, but absolutely necessary in terms of managing with Covid,” he said, adding that some countries had made it mandatory, but that “such a process would not happen quickly enough for us”. He said the preference was for a risk-based assessment with local service managers determining that people need to have the vaccine.

“I have been clear that we need a significant ramping up of vaccinations this year,” he said.

Sinn Féin TD Louise O’Reilly said the rollout is a “central piece” of the State’s winter plan.

“The delay of a fortnight will put under pressure a system that is already overstretched and the Minister needs to address this delay and outline how they will catch up – there is a fear that this programme won’t commence until October. The Minister needs to make sure that this delay won’t impact on the rollout,” she said.

It is understood that discussions are ongoing with trade unions on the issue. A draft HSE guideline on the issue, seen by The Irish Times, suggests that workers will be divided into risk categories, with those in the highest risk segment asked to provide their line manager with evidence of having received the vaccine.

“While highly recommended for all healthcare workers, under this policy and based on the mitigation of risk it is required for those in Category A High Risk positions to receive the vaccine.”

The draft guidelines suggest that those who cannot receive the vaccine for medical reasons must provide evidence from a doctor that this is the case, and must then wear a mask when providing patient care in high risk clinical areas, and may be redeployed to a non-high risk area.

The same applies for workers who decline the vaccine.