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The executive director of the Executive of Health Services has said that the number of vaccines to be distributed will almost double in the next week.
Paul Reid said more than 80,000 doses will be administered nationwide between tomorrow and next Sunday.
“We have a very important week ahead of us, in which we will complete more than 80,000 vaccinations,” he said.
Reid said the figure is “almost double what we have been doing weekly.”
He said it will include “13,500 people over 85 years of age, who will be vaccinated at their GP or vaccination centers.”
“We will also have more than 40,000 employees and residents in long-term care facilities, who will receive their second dose and, thirdly, 25,000 vaccinations from frontline healthcare workers with the AstraZeneca vaccine.”
He was speaking at the mass vaccination center in Sligo IT, where he met with advanced doctors and paramedics giving injections to GPs and practice nurses today.
Mr. Reid said we have “a very exciting few weeks ahead of us as we begin to vaccinate people who live in the community.”
About 12,000 first doses of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine will be distributed to 84 GP offices in 20 counties.
He said that people over the age of 85 will receive their first vaccination over a three-week period, and that everyone over the age of 70 will receive their first dose in mid-April and the second dose in mid-May.
Around 3,000 GPs and nurse practitioners received their first Covid-19 vaccine today.
Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was given to doctors and nurses at vaccination centers across the country.
About 1,200 first doses were to be administered at St Mary’s Hospital in Dublin, 600 at the Park Hotel in Portlaoise, 600 at Merlin Park Hospital in Galway and another 600 at the Sligo Institute of Technology.
Yesterday, 1,800 GPs and nurse practitioners received their second dose of the Moderna vaccine.
Meanwhile, the latest figures show that as of last Thursday, 261,073 vaccines had been administered in Ireland.
Some 171,239 of the vaccines were first doses, while 89,834 people also received their second dose.
Reid said people 85 and older shouldn’t be overly concerned if they haven’t heard from their GP about the vaccine.
Paul Reid told RTÉ News that people will hear “very soon” from their doctor about how to make an appointment.
HSE Executive Director Paul Reid says that if people over the age of 85 have not heard about the Covd-19 vaccine, their GP will “very soon” inform them of how to make an appointment https: // t. co / DoL1d2mesS pic.twitter.com/s1arvqJmx2
– RTÉ News (@rtenews) February 14, 2021
“They should rest easy,” he said.
“Your GP will contact you and make the necessary arrangements, either at the GP’s office itself, or at another GP consultation as friends, or at one of the vaccination centers across the country. “.
1200 doses of AstraZeneca are administered in central Dublin, 600 in Portlaoise, 600 in Galway and 600 in Sligo. # Covid19Ireland @RTENews pic.twitter.com/BFmaYq2AMc
– Fergal O’Brien (@Fergal_O_Brien) February 14, 2021
Keogh’s practice in the city of Waterford will be one of the first GP surgeries in the country to administer vaccines to those 85 and older next week.
Tomorrow a batch of doses of Pfizer-BioNTech will be delivered to the office.
One of the GPs, Dr. Niall MacNamara, said they hope to start giving the vaccines on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Dr. MacNamara said that he has been working for 20 years in general practice and said he is “not sure there has been a more important or more exciting week ahead.”
“The enthusiasm is shared not only by the doctors, nurses and administrative staff in our practice, but also shared by all of our patients and the patients we have been contacting over the past few days to make appointments.”
“For everyone in the 85+ category, it has been an incredibly difficult time over the past 12 months, but thankfully this is the first big sign of hope, and we look forward to sharing it with our patients on Tuesday,” he said. saying.
Active Retirement Ireland has described the initiation of vaccination of those over 85 as positive and a ray of hope.
Peter Kavanagh, Head of Communications and Public Affairs for the representative body, said: “This is quite a positive week for older people, certainly for our members.”
“While we know that there are massive problems on the supply side and that this initial rollout for those over 85 represents only a small cohort of seniors, for those who have been in hiding for so long and have been withdrawn from friends and loved ones for about a year now, it certainly brings a glimmer of hope, “he said.
Kavanagh said Active Retirement Ireland appreciates the assurances from Health Minister Stephen Donnelly and Senior Minister Mary Butler that no one will be left behind.
“For anyone who has not yet received the vaccine, it is very important that you know that you will not be left behind, but it does not do any harm to check with your GP to make sure it is still active in their records and they will contact you when it’s time for the vaccine, “he added.
Concerns about the international travel situation
It comes as some public health experts have expressed concern that the country risks undoing all its vaccination progress, if the current travel situation is not addressed.
Dr Cliona Ní Cheallaigh, an infectious disease consultant, said this morning that Ireland cannot afford to have people in and out of the country at the current rate.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Brendan O’Connor show, he warned that with the global prevalence of the virus and new variants, the progress made so far could unravel.
Dr. Ní Cheallaigh said there was a need to invest in public health teams in areas such as contact tracing, who she said should become “SWAT teams.”
At 8am this morning, there were 899 Covid-19 patients in Irish hospitals.
Dr Ní Cheallaigh’s comments come as Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said it is too early to say when the Level 5 restrictions might be lifted.
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