The HSE’s director general Paul Reid has said that in his personal view the policy of “encouraging and cajoling” people to get vaccinated was the better approach.
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast and RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland, Mr Reid pointed out that 94 per cent of the population over the age of 18 had been vaccinated. “We’ve done extraordinarily well.”
However, he acknowledged that 54 per cent of the patients in ICU had not been vaccinated, “that’s from six per cent of the population.” It was important for people to come forward to be vaccinated to stop this "disproportionate impact".
Vaccine hesitancy
Every week there were 17,000 to 20,000 people coming forward for their first and second doses and the HSE was continuing to work with vulnerable groups and NGOs in a bid to reduce vaccine hesitancy. It was encouraging that the numbers were slowly reducing each week.
Mr Reid said that this time last year 87,000 PCR tests were carried out, this year that figure was 220,000 and would continue to grow, probably to 300,000. On December 26th last year the first batch of 9,750 doses of vaccine arrived into the country, yesterday 109,000 doses were administered.
“We should never lose hope and joy. The health service is working around the clock to care for everyone.”
Mr Reid thanked the public for their “amazing service” and he encouraged people to be patient and kind to healthcare staff and not to attend at emergency departments unless absolutely necessary. It was hoped to treat more patients in the community.
