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THE OPERATIONAL PLAN for vaccine administration in Ireland has already changed 15-17 times due to supply constraints and changes in sequencing and prioritization, said the HSE CEO.
Speaking to the Oireachtas Joint Health Committee this morning, Paul Reid said that the health service’s experience with providing vaccines in the first three months of this year has been characterized by “high levels of frustration.”
Reid said the supply of AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines had proven to be “unstable” to date and that previous targets of up to 1.7 million doses of vaccines delivered by the end of March were now not possible. Another goal of 1.24 million doses of vaccine may not be reached now either.
“Realistically, we are seeing 1.1 million [vaccine doses at the end of the month], reaching 1.2 million in the first week of April, “he said.
However, the HSE CEO said that despite these supply problems, he still expects to receive up to 3.8 million doses of vaccines in April, May and June. This will include up to 600,000 one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccines that could be approved by European authorities later this week.
Responding to questions from John Lahart of Fianna Fáil, Reid said: “It has been a frustrating quarter… but we expect the second quarter to have a high level of predictability.
We fully understand the public’s frustration in this regard. But as we get the supply, we manage it very efficiently.
Reid added that there will still be “changes and roundabouts” in the vaccine supply in the coming months.
As of Saturday night, 523,069 doses of vaccines had been administered nationwide.
Of these, 373,149 were first doses. Another 149,920 people have been fully vaccinated.
Most of the vaccines have been given to the first two cohorts (long-term care residents over 65 and frontline healthcare workers) under the government prioritization plan.
So far, 97,681 people in the age group over 70 have received a first dose. Most of them are over 85 years old.
Vaccination of the fourth cohort, people aged 16 to 69 who are at very high risk of severe illness from Covid-19, also began this week.
Supply problems
Supply problems have been well flagged on a number of occasions, which has meant that targets have been missed.
Last week, a delay in the supply of AstraZeneca meant that a 100,000 hit target was missed.
Reid said today that 95% of the vaccines they receive are administered within a week of delivery.
Because of this, any unexpected delays in delivery can have an immediate impact on implementation plans, he said.
“Last Friday, we had planned a 64,000 dose AztraZeneca supply,” he said. “With the delay in that, it meant that it immediately impacted us on the vaccinations we planned for Saturday and Sunday.”
The HSE chief also said there were problems in supplying GPs above 85 last week.
“We had problems with some practices that didn’t get the required amount,” Reid said when asked by Sinn Féin’s David Cullinane.
He said the vast majority of about 1,300 GPs had received and administered vaccinations for those over 85 at this stage. Another 30 GPs who have not yet received vaccinations will receive them this week.
Reid added that last week, there were between 25 and 40 GP’s that experienced problems such as reduced supplies or a lack of consumables in the past week.
Social Democrat TD Róisín Shortall asked why our entire supply of Moderna vaccines had not yet been used.
This is because for each dose of Moderna administered, the HSE must retain a second dose for that person in its cold storage units, Reid said. He said this was due to “supplier recommendations and guidelines.”
Future implementation
If the vaccine supply increases as expected starting in April, the utilization of 37 vaccination centers across the country will also increase, according to Reid.
There are 11 other cohorts of people under the government’s allocation plan for whom no blows have yet been struck. As the supply increases, more and more people in these cohorts will need to receive vaccines.
He said there will be 800 booths where vaccines can be administered at all these vaccination centers, which will vary in size.
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“Those who have 50 booths will be able to do approximately 5,000 vaccinations per day,” he said.
Reid said there are 10,000 trained vaccinators on the HSE registry, with another 2,200 applications made under a national recruitment drive.
The centers will be open 12 hours a day, with plans in place to provide them with adequate resources.
He said that in the future people within specific cohorts will be recommended to register online, and they will be assigned a date and time for their vaccination at a future date.
“As we move toward those in April, it will be through a combination of GPs, pharmacies and vaccination centers,” Reid said.
Also during the meeting, HSE Clinical Director Dr. Colm Henry said that work was underway to identify everyone in Cohort 4 (ages 16 to 69 and at very high risk of severe Covid-19 disease) and offer them a vaccine in the next few weeks.
He said national registries on people receiving dialysis or cancer treatment, for example, would mean they could easily identify some people in this cohort. Work is also being done locally to identify other people in this cohort eligible for a vaccine.
Henry said that a large number of the estimated 160,000 people in this cohort were expected to receive a vaccine this month.
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