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The first delivery of the Modern Covid-19 vaccine arrived in Ireland this afternoon.
Moderna began its deliveries to the EU and EEA member states yesterday. Ireland has reserved 875,000 doses of the vaccine.
On Twitter tonight, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly welcomed Moderna’s delivery.
Donnelly said the first installment was small, but that “every shot counts.”
It’s great to see the first installment of the Moderna vaccine land in Ireland. The first installment is small, but every shot counts @Aer Lingus@HSELive pic.twitter.com/ipofl9Emrl
– Stephen Donnelly (@DonnellyStephen) January 12, 2021
Minister Donnelly also said tonight that nearly 40,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have already been administered.
He said that “we continue to accelerate vaccines for priority groups. We are now focusing on nursing home residents and staff and frontline healthcare workers.”
It comes as a Drogheda-based general practitioner said he is among several GPs who are concerned about his position in the Covid-19 vaccination program and the slow pace of its implementation.
Dr. Amy Morgan said she is aware of some GPs across the country who have been vaccinated due to “agreements with local hospital groups” but said “this is not available to everyone.”
Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Dr. Morgan said that the issues require the involvement of HSE to organize the vaccination of GPs.
He said he fully supports prioritizing vaccines for hospital colleagues and the most vulnerable, but said he is concerned about the “lack of planning leading to ad hoc arrangements.”
Dr. Morgan said GPs, along with general practice nurses, are willing to be a part of the vaccination rollout, but said “for us to be safe vaccinators, we have to vaccinate ourselves.”
She added that her surgery doesn’t know when she and her fellow practitioners will take the hit.
Dr. Morgan spoke after the Minister of Health said yesterday that 700,000 people are expected to be vaccinated here by the end of March.
Donnelly said that number includes people in long-term residential care facilities, frontline healthcare workers and people over 70 and is “close to covering the top three cohorts of people who have the highest priority.”
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Meanwhile, an infectious disease consultant has said he would only defer vaccinations for people who have had Covid-19 and are symptom-free for four weeks.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne, Professor Sam McConkey said that recent data shows that the vaccine “works better than natural protection from having had the virus.”
“There is very good data that we know that the vaccine protects people by 90-95%, but we do not have data that natural infection protects you at that level.”
Professor McConkey said that this current increase in Covid-19 cases is different from the first, in that it is “bigger and has grown faster.”
“It has surprised us all in terms of the number of people who come to the hospitals.”
He said that rapid profile modification of healthcare workers in other specialties for Covid care is crucial to ensuring that Covid patients can receive care.
Professor McConkey also praised the European Medicines Agency for the pace and comprehensive evaluation of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine.
He said the EMA only received the full file of evidence needed for a full review this week.
“They are not doing a quick and dirty review,” he said. “They are doing a complete review that they would do with any other vaccine like the flu vaccine, for example, and any other medicine that has been used for the last 20 to 30 years.”
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