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The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) reported another 18 deaths and 761 new cases of the virus in the state on Wednesday.
There have now been a total of 4,705 Covid-19-related deaths and 236,600 confirmed cases here since the pandemic began.
Eleven of the reported deaths occurred in March, while the remaining seven occurred in February.
Of Wednesday’s cases, 372 are in Dublin, 55 in Meath, 43 in Cork, 40 in Kildare, 38 in Offaly and the remaining 213 cases are spread across 19 other counties.
The average age of the new cases at 33, with 72% of them under 45.
At 8 a.m. Wednesday, 274 patients were hospitalized with the virus, 63 of whom were in ICE.
The 14-day national incidence rate is now 164.9 per 100,000.
As of March 29, 819,676 doses of Covid-19 vaccines had been administered, of which 228,988 were second doses.
The latest figures came as the HSE said it had made improvements to its system for making vaccination appointments after hundreds of people double-booked this week.
Vaccine appointments
Nearly 600 people missed their appointments at the Citywest Covid-19 vaccination center on Wednesday because they had already been vaccinated.
Of the 1,329 healthcare workers required to be vaccinated by the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group at the Citywest vaccination facility on Wednesday, only 757 attended.
In a statement, the HSE said: “The center has discovered that the status of the registered person may change to vaccinated if another vaccination center is contacted and this has caused people to miss the appointment. . . No vaccine was wasted. “
At a weekly press conference Thursday, HSE CEO Paul Reid said he was unaware of the double booking, but explained that healthcare workers don’t sign up to get vaccinated at one location. They register and are then assigned a place for vaccination.
The double bookings that have occurred are due to hospital groups assigning people to one center and others within the hospital group assigning them to another center, he suggested.
Mr. Reid said it would not lead to the waste of vaccine vials as “they open as the day progresses and are needed.”
He added that people “were generally waiting their turn and when there are infractions, we treat them seriously.
“The program and the administration of the program have largely gone according to plan. There have been rare reporting issues where people have skipped the queue. It depends heavily on confidence levels. “
In a subsequent statement, the HSE said: “Work has now been done to ensure that this [the double-bookings] it does not happen again.
“In the next phase of the vaccine launch, the portal will have an improved scheduling system to avoid similar reservation conflicts. In addition, a technical improvement will be introduced in the system, which will allow people to decline appointments. “
Mr. Reid described the vaccination program in the first quarter of the year as a “tremendous success.”
Until March 31, some 820,000 vaccines were administered and one million doses were scheduled to arrive in each of the next three months. “We have achieved and managed everything that we have been able to do,” he said.
Mr. Reid described the impact on those who have been vaccinated as “phenomenal” and hospitals and nursing homes are safer than they have been since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The public should be assured that the vaccine program is working well and there have been only a small number of exceptions, including Beacon Hospital, he stressed.
“We will address any exceptions that occur. They are exceptions and we treat them seriously. “
He said that Beacon Hospital’s actions were a misuse of a public resource.
Reid said he shared the public’s anger at what the hospital’s executive director, Michael Cullen, had done by giving 20 shots to teachers at St Gerard’s School private school last year.
Programs that are “publicly funded should not be allocated in any other way than equity and transparency.”
The HSE will conduct its own independent investigation into Mr. Cullen’s actions.
Mr. Reid said that he had spoken with Mr. Cullen twice in the past week and told him that it was not acceptable to vaccinate teachers out of sequence.
Of the 820,000 vaccines that had been administered up to the end of March, 680,000 were first doses and 140,000 second doses.
In the first three days of this week, 55,000 doses were administered.
To date, about 200,000 people over the age of 70 have been vaccinated and 53,000 people over the age of 85 have received their second dose.
Reid said 120,000 people were vaccinated last week and he was “excited” by the recent progress.
The region of 120,000 will be vaccinated next week now that a delivery of 112,000 AstraZeneca vaccines has arrived.
There were only 24 confirmed cases of Covid-19 among hospital staff in the week through March 21 compared to more than 1,000 per week in January.
Next week’s vaccinations will be given primarily to those over 70 and then to those between 65 and 69.
During the month of April a portal will be opened for the general public to register for vaccination.
HSE Clinical Director Dr. Colm Henry said he supported the decision of the National Immunization Advisory Council (Niac) and the Government to administer vaccines based on age rather than certain cohorts.
He said age “far exceeds” the risk for all professions, with the exception of healthcare workers, who are seven times more likely to contract Covid-19 than the general public.
Niac’s decision was supported by those who administered the vaccine, he added.
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