Covid-19: Donnelly says not all over-70s to be vaccinated until May

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has confirmed it will be mid-May before all people  over 70 years of age will be vaccinated against Covid-19.

He told the Dáil the vaccination programme for those over 85 will commence on Monday with some 8,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine and 12,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. The following week about 50,000 doses are expected to be administered with further increases after that.

He also said that those under 65 will receive the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine after 12 weeks. The clinical advice for those over 65 who may receive that vaccine is that they are vaccinated after six weeks.

When Social Democrats TD Róisín Shortall raised the issue of the gap between doses of vaccine Mr Donnelly said the UK is going with 12 weeks “and preliminary evidence is suggesting that the greatest immune response is with the 12 weeks”. And he confirmed that approximately 3,000 nursing home residents have yet to receive their first dose of the vaccine because of outbreaks of the virus in residential care facilities. He said they had to be 28 days free of Covid before receiving an injection.

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The Minister also confirmed the latest research that 85 per cent of people have said they will take  the vaccine, up from 75 per cent when a previous survey was taken. Mr Donnelly was speaking during a Dáil debate and question and answer session on the State’s Covid-19 vaccination programme.

He told TDs that Ireland has one of the highest per capita rates of vaccine administration in the EU and this should create confidence in the State's capacity to deliver the inoculation programme.

More than 240,000 people have been vaccinated and the Government has agreements for a total of 16 million vaccine those from a range of pharmaceutical companies, he said.

Creating hubs

Some seven in every 10 GP practices will administer the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in their clinics and the HSE and Irish Medical Organisation are working with about 400 other smaller practices to create hubs or join larger practices.

Sinn Féin health spokesman David Cullinane acknowledged supply issues but said the middle of May for all over-70s to be inoculated is a long time to wait for those most at risk, when they heard it would be the end of March. "This will cause concern for many older people."

Mr Donnelly insisted mid-May was still only a delay of two weeks on the previous target of March because that date referred to the first dosage of the vaccine.

A number of TDs raised concerns about the place in group six of the vaccine priority list for individuals with cystic fibrosis, kidney conditions and other very high risk underlying conditions.

Mr Donnelly said he had asked the National Immunisation Advisory Committee to examine the case of that group of individuals within cohort six. He said the chief medical officer and Department of Health would then consider prioritisation and report to him next week.