Deliveries of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine, which is set to become an important part of Ireland’s immunisation programme, will be halved for the rest of this month.
It is the latest setback to the Irish vaccination programme, coming just a day after initial approval was given for the vaccine to be administered to the over-50s.
The Irish Times reports that a shipment of around 26,000 doses of the vaccine, which had been due for delivery before the end of the month, has been caught up in the fallout from an incident at a US factory producing the vaccine.
The delivery will now be reduced to around 12,000 doses.
It is unclear if the impact will only affect this delivery, which is of lower volume, or if larger consignments in the weeks ahead will also be impacted. Some 132,000 doses of the vaccine are due in May, according to Department of Health figures.
It is understood that there is no impact on the 14,000 doses already in the country, which may be administered in the coming days.
The vaccination programme received a double boost on Monday night when Niac recommended the J&J vaccine for over-50s and relaxed its restrictions on the AstraZeneca jab.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said if the Cabinet approved the Niac recommendation it would be “full steam ahead” for the rollout.
Speaking to journalists on his way into a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Mr Donnelly said plans were being put in place so after approval “we can move immediately.”
All vaccines would be available for the over-50s and the plan was to move to the 50-59 age group as quickly as possible, he added.
