79-year-old Dublin grandmother is the first to receive the Covid vaccine

by



[ad_1]

A 79-year-old Dublin woman has become the first person in the country to receive the Covid-19 vaccine today.

Annie Lynch, a 10-year-old grandmother who grew up in The Liberties area of ​​the city, received the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine at St James Hospital, followed by a clinical nurse in a room designated by Covid.

“I feel very privileged to be the first person in Ireland to receive the vaccine,” she said.

“Like everyone else, I’ve been looking forward to the vaccine and I really feel like there’s a bit of hope there now. It’s brilliant that it’s here. It was all explained to me very clearly beforehand.”

Annie now lives at Drimnagh in Dublin. He is currently a resident at Mercer’s Institute for Successful Aging at St James’s.

He has three children and 10 grandchildren. Sadly, her husband, John, passed away in September.

Annie received an information leaflet on the HSE vaccine, along with a more detailed patient information leaflet from the manufacturer, prior to receiving the vaccine.

Subsequently, each vaccinated person was given a vaccination record card, which contained the name and batch of the vaccine they had received. Each of them will return for their second dose, to be fully protected, in three weeks.

Bernie Waterhouse is a clinical nurse manager working in a Covid-19 designated ward at St James Hospital, and is the first healthcare worker in Ireland to be vaccinated.

She said while receiving her vaccine: “I wanted to get vaccinated to protect myself and the people I work with and care for every day, from Covid-19.”

Bernie Waterhouse, clinical nurse manager at St James’s Hospital, gets the vaccine today

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said: “Today is a ray of light after what has been a difficult year in our country.

“Our healthcare workers have worked day and night to care for their patients during this pandemic. I would like to acknowledge their dedication and commitment, and thank them for the central role they will play as we move forward in the administration of vaccines.”

HSE Chief Executive Officer Paul Reid said he was “very proud to see vaccinations begin today, safely, with comprehensive vaccine training and patient-centered communications at your heart.”

The launch of the Covid-19 vaccine begins today in four hospitals across the country. The first vaccinations have just taken place at St James Hospital, Dublin. You have 500 doses to administer in the next few days.

10,000 doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine arrived in Ireland on St. Stephen’s Day.

After three days of storage, the first of these vaccines will also be administered in three other acute hospitals: Beaumont in Dublin, Cork University Hospital and University Hospital Galway.

Beaumont Hospital has said that 500 doses of the vaccine will be administered there over the next few days and similar amounts are expected to be administered at the other sites.

Professor Brian MacCraith, chair of the Covid Vaccines Working Group, said Annie was “delighted” to receive the vaccine.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he said that other people who will receive the vaccine today will include an ICU nurse, a junior doctor, a Covid ward nurse, and an allied healthcare professional.

Professor MacCraith said he believes it is “very possible that we will complete all nursing home vaccinations by February.”

He said that anyone in Ireland who wants the vaccine will, at best, receive it in August.

“Everything will depend on the manufacturing success of the companies, on the delivery schedules … But, without a doubt, if everything happened, one would be looking at that. [August]. “

We need your consent to upload this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage additional content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Review your data and accept it to load the content.Manage preferences

The Government and the Executive of the Health Service have said that the vaccination program is starting in hospital settings to build confidence before the vaccine is deployed in the more than 580 nursing homes in the country starting next Monday, January 4.

Latest coronavirus stories

Regarding the launch, Professor MacCraith said that because these are dual-dose vaccines, 50% will be held in the first few weeks until there is more certainty about the regularity of the supply.

“We look forward to that regularity, and we are getting more and more assurances from Pfizer about it,” he said.

“In the coming weeks we will be increasing the numbers. We will never retain the stored vaccines, we will use them as soon as we have availability.”

Professor MacCraith said there have been “some difficulties in Europe” in terms of supply.

Another supply is expected to arrive today, he said, bringing the total from 10,000 to more than 40,000.

He said the expectation is that they will receive just over 40,000 doses of vaccines per week during the weeks of January through February.

Professor MacCraith said there are “very strong indications” in the UK that the Astrazeneca / Oxford University vaccine could receive approval in the next few days.

He said this would be “something of a game changer” in terms of scale and ease of use.

The acting director of operations for HSE South and South West has said they will administer their 500 doses today, tomorrow and Thursday.

Also speaking on Morning Ireland, Dr. Orla Healy said that vaccination will begin earlier this afternoon. The focus is on frontline workers caring for Covid-19 patients.

“Staff from all disciplines who have been treating confirmed Covid patients or suspected Covid patients,” he said.

“We will be vaccinating a combination of nurses, doctors, allied healthcare professionals, porters, caterers, healthcare assistants, anyone who is up front and caring for Covid patients.”

Dr. Healy said the vaccines are expected to be distributed to various hospitals in the coming weeks.

At this stage, they are oversubscribed for the vaccine, he said, and the process is completely voluntary.

“We have a knowledgeable and highly trained staff,” he said.

“We expect uptake to be high, as evidenced by the uptake of the flu vaccine earlier this year.”

We need your consent to upload this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage additional content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Review your data and accept it to load the content.Manage preferences

Yesterday, the Health Department was notified of one more coronavirus-related death and 765 new cases.

The number of people who have died with Covid-19 in Ireland is now 2,205, while the cumulative total of confirmed cases is 86,894.

The number of patients with the disease in the ICU is 30.

Medical director Dr. Tony Holohan warned that there has been a sharp increase in the number of people admitted to hospital with the virus in recent days.

Dr Holohan said: “We are also seeing a sharp increase in positivity rates in community tests, with a seven-day average of more than 9.2% compared to 5.2% on December 18. This indicates that the virus is increasing. its presence in our country communities.

“This is just one more reason why we strongly advise everyone to stay safe at home to avoid transmitting or contracting this virus, as it continues to circulate widely.”

Meanwhile, HSE CEO Paul Reid has asked people to take calls from contact tracker.

In a tweet last night, Reid said there was a worrying and growing trend of some people not answering calls from tracking teams.

Reid said the teams are a valuable resource in protecting the public and the spread of the virus and asked people to cooperate.

Additional reporting Samantha Libreri



[ad_2]