[ad_1]
Updated 20 minutes ago
HSE HEAD PAUL Reid has said that Covid-19 vaccines will begin to be administered in Ireland on Tuesday, a day earlier than expected.
Several people in the medical profession, including the head of the Medical Council, had questioned why Ireland was waiting four days to administer the Covid-19 vaccine. The first batches of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine arrived in Ireland yesterday.
Reid was asked on RTÉ’s This Week program why the Covid-19 vaccines were not given today, and he replied “we want to do this right.”
Earlier, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said that Ireland could start slowly with its vaccination program, but that it will accelerate as more vaccines become operational.
The first doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine arrived in Ireland yesterday, but the first vaccines are not scheduled for Wednesday.
When asked about this on Newstalk’s On The Record, Varadkar said he wasn’t sure exactly why Ireland was waiting.
“What they have told me is that it only takes a couple of days to organize things and although you could have done some people, if you want, in the first days, the authorities thought it better to start on Wednesday and start correctly,” he said. Varadkar.
According to Varadkar, Ireland will likely start vaccinations a bit more slowly compared to other countries in the world, but the program will accelerate as the EU approves more vaccines.
An important reason behind Varadkar’s reasoning is that the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine could be approved by the end of January, and that Ireland has a significant number of reserved doses.
“We have pre-ordered a lot of them, more than we did for Pfizer and also that doesn’t require a deep cold chain. That is a more normal vaccine that we would be used to using in GP and pharmacy surgeries that only needs to be refrigerated.
“The kind of scheme that you are seeing in the newspapers now seems slow, but it can and will accelerate as those other vaccines come online.”
No news is bad news
Support the magazine
your contributions help us continue to deliver the stories that are important to you
Support us now
Positivity rates
It comes as HSE CEO Paul Reid says Ireland has seen a significant increase in test and trace volumes.
In a tweet, Reid said that Ireland’s community positivity rate is now 10%, with close contacts now averaging 5 people.
There has also been a significant increase in trace calls, going from 10,000 to more than 30,000 per week.
“Please review New Year’s plans to stay safe,” Reid said.
Updated by Gráinne Ní Aodha
[ad_2]