The HSE’s chief clinical officer has said 40,000 second doses of the Covid vaccine will be administered next week along with some first doses that are outstanding.
The vaccination rollout in nursing homes is “almost complete”, Dr Colm Henry told RTÉ’s News at One. This cohort has been expended to include congregated settings where people over the age of 70 live following recent deaths in religious orders.
When asked about the possibility of using the AstraZeneca vaccine for older people who are housebound, Dr Henry said that it was not a question of doing what was easiest logistically, but operating on information on the best protection and to date the information was that vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna were more effective for the older cohort.
The Moderna vaccine had been used for the initial vaccination rollout to GPs and practice nurses, but the AstraZeneca vaccine would not be used for the remaining members of this group, he said.
Dr Henry again defended the pace of the rollout. “We’re dishing it out as quickly as we get it in.”
This was not a sprint, it was a marathon, he added.
There was emerging evidence that the vaccines offered protection after the first dose, with data from Israel indicating a 60 percent reduction in hospitalisations among older people after the first dose. “This is positive news.”
Dr Henry said he wanted to see the numbers fall and a situation that the vaccination programme was leading to a breakdown in transmission of the virus.
Rolling out the vaccination programme to the Over-70s through GPs made sense, he said, because they knew their patients and “how to get it to the right people.”
The vaccination programme was working its way through the age categories and public health officials would continue to monitor those who were at greatest risk.
