80% of people under 60 in hospital with Covid-19 in North not vaccinated

Four out of every five people under 60 who are in hospital with Covid-19 in the North have not been vaccinated, according to the North's Department of Health.

Figures released by the Department on Tuesday showed that of 114 hospital inpatients with Covid-19 who are aged under 60, 80 per cent – a total of 91 people – were unvaccinated.

Northern Ireland's Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Ian Young, told the BBC that younger people who do not get vaccinated "have a risk of developing a serious illness which will take them into hospital."

Across all age groups just over half of those receiving hospital treatment for Covid-19 had not had the vaccine.

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The data relates to August 9th, when there were 267 inpatients with Covid-19 in Northern Ireland. In total 140 people were unvaccinated, 18 had received one dose and 109 both doses.

The Department said people who were totally unvaccinated accounted for 52 per cent of all Covid-19 inpatients of all ages, “despite unvaccinated people now making up just 15 per cent of the NI(Northern Ireland) adult population” and the “stark facts” highlighted the importance of getting both vaccine doses.

Approximately 85 per cent of people over 18 in Northern Ireland have received a first vaccination dose. Almost 1.1 million people have received both doses.

However, the uptake remains lower among younger age groups, with just over 65 per cent of those aged between 18 and 29 having had a first injection of the vaccine.

The North’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Lourda Geoghegan, said the evidence in support of vaccine effectiveness was “very clear.”

“While the current prevalence of the virus in Northern Ireland remains a serious cause for concern, we would be in a much worse situation but for our vaccination programme,” she said.

The vaccine, she said, “does make us significantly safer – it shifts the odds in our favour.

“Vaccination cuts our risk of getting seriously ill or dying from Covid-19 by around 95 per cent and it also reduces our risk of catching or spreading the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

“Vaccination protects us, it protects our families and protects others. It helps us reclaim normality.”

Stormont’s Department of Health is continuing to encourage anyone who has not yet come forward for the vaccine to do so.

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland's Minister for Health, Robin Swann, said on Tuesday that pop-up vaccination clinics will continue to operate into September.

The pop-up clinics offer a first dose of the Pfizer vaccine to people aged 16 and over without an appointment.

So far more than 6,500 16 and 17-year-olds have received their first vaccine dose.

An additional number of community pharmacies are also offering appointments for first doses of the Moderna vaccine.

According to the Department of Health there were 311 patients with Covid-19 in hospital in Northern Ireland on Tuesday, with 41 in intensive care.

The department also reported the deaths of two more people with Covid-19, and 1,305 new cases of the virus.