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The state plans to vaccinate more than a million of the most vulnerable in the country against Covid-19 in the coming months, with the hope that the first of them can receive the vaccine next month.
As preparations to inoculate the nation intensify, the National Vaccine Task Force is likely to propose a double launch of the vaccine at GPs’ offices and regional centers, the Sunday Independent understands.
The task force is likely to recommend a “vaccine passport” to allow the health service to track the immunization process. Most vaccines will be given as two shots, three weeks apart, to be effective.
“There will need to be very detailed IT records of all aspects of this in terms of inviting people for vaccination, scheduling them, inviting them to return, monitoring responses, and the ability to use the record as some form of immunization passport. “said a halt. -source level.
Those who were centrally involved in drawing up the plan now expect a large portion of the population to be vaccinated by the end of next summer, if the product can be implemented efficiently. Health officials expect multiple vaccines on the ground in Ireland by February, but it is unlikely that people will be able to choose which vaccine to take.
With the first vaccines awaiting regulatory approval next month, officials are working on the basis that the first doses could be delivered to Ireland before the end of December.
“My expectation is that if the vaccines arrive in the country before the end of December, we will aim to deploy them before the end of December,” said a high-level figure who is working on Ireland’s plan.
However, government and public health sources warn that it is more likely to be January before the first vaccines arrive. Pfizer’s RNA vaccine, developed in conjunction with BioNTech and said to be 95% effective, will likely be the first to arrive in Ireland.
The National Working Group on Vaccines will inform the Government before December 11. However, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar issued a note of caution at Fine Gael’s parliamentary meeting last week.
He told his party colleagues that the speed at which the vaccine is being produced means that something “is going to go wrong” and a critical mass of people will not be vaccinated before the second quarter of next year.
A Tánaiste spokesperson told the Sunday Independent: “The Tánaiste is confident that one or more vaccines will be available in Ireland in the first half of next year.”
“We are well placed with pre-orders through the EU Commission and an established working group. But we must be realistic about the timelines. Despite the good news in recent weeks, the European Medicines Agency has yet to approve no vaccine and the manufacturing, distribution and administration will be a huge undertaking. “
Preparations are underway to store the first doses of vaccine at HSE’s Cold Chain Delivery Service in City West, Dublin. The Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine, which is expected to be the first to hit the market, requires super cold storage at -70 degrees and has a shelf life of five days. However, Pfizer has agreed to send the vials directly from its plant in Belgium to the “vaccination point”.
A senior source at HSE said: “If we get it, I could get it out in five days or a week. We won’t have it before December 11, but once the plan is accepted [by Government] it’s a matter of putting it into operation. I imagine that we would start to move through the cohorts fairly quickly. “
The working group is developing a communications plan that will aim to provide clear evidence of the vaccine’s efficacy and address concerns about the speed of its production.
This comes as research conducted on behalf of the Irish Pharmacy Union found that just over half (51 percent) of more than 1,000 respondents claimed they would benefit from a Covid-19 vaccine. However, a quarter, 24 percent, said that while they would take advantage of it, they would not do it immediately.
The government is facing calls for a greater engagement with logistics experts that could be critical to ensuring the safe distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine across the country.
Verona Murphy, independent TD and former president of the Road Haulage Association, said she plans to increase the government’s engagement with stakeholders on preparations for vaccine distribution.
Medical sources in Ireland’s acute care hospitals said urgent attention was needed to purchase equipment now, such as commercial “ultra-low temperature” freezers capable of extending the shelf life of the vaccine by six months.
Dr Denis McCauley, chairman of the Irish Medical Organization’s committee for general practitioners, said he hopes short-course vaccines will be given at regional centers.
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