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The HSE will contact patients with serious medical conditions directly to let them know when they will receive the Covid-19 vaccination, the HSE’s chief clinical officer has said.
Dr Colm Henry said on Monday that the HSE was currently working through the hospital network to identify patients with chronic conditions such as cancer, renal failure and respiratory issues.
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, Dr Henry reassured patients with very high-risk medical conditions who are aged between 16 and 69 that there was no need to contact their GP or the HSE, and that people would be alerted once the vaccine becomes available to them.
He noted that there were many diverse conditions included in the category 4 cohort – those aged 16-69 with a medical condition that puts them at very high risk of severe disease and death if they contract the virus
While there had been “some incidents” with regard to deliveries of the vaccine recently, Dr Henry said he was confident that rescheduled deliveries would go ahead and that the summer deadlines would be achieved.
HSE chief executive Paul Reid said on Sunday the vaccination of people aged 16-69 with serious illnesses would begin this week and that he expected about 10,000 people in this cohort to be vaccinated over the next seven days.
Mr Reid said there could be up to 150,000 within this cohort of people and that the HSE had started a process of identifying them.
He told RTÉ’s This Week programme on Sunday that the three current vaccine providers had given commitments to supply collectively 1.2 million doses by the end of the first quarter, with some 200,000 doses due to arrive in the final days of the month.
The latest official vaccine figures from Thursday, March 4th show 346,256 first doses have been given with 147,617 second doses and a total of 493,873 doses.
However, Taoiseach Micheál Martin on Saturday confirmed that over 500,000 doses had been administered. Around three per cent of the Irish population is now fully vaccinated, while seven per cent has received the first dose.
The HSE advised family doctors at the weekend that they may not receive all the supply anticipated for patients over 80 this week. This is due to changes in the supply line of the Moderna vaccine.
However, the HSE maintains the shortfall will be made up in the weeks ahead and told GPs it was still expected the vaccination of all people in the community aged over 70 would be completed on schedule by mid-May.
The HSE said due to a reprofiling of the Moderna vaccine delivery schedule, the total vaccine doses available for distribution in the coming weeks was “now slightly less than previously advised”.
There were 420 people in hospital with confirmed cases of Covid-19 on Sunday evening, down from 423 at 8am. St James’s Hospital in Dublin continues to care for the highest number of Covid-19 patients (51), followed by 44 in Connolly Hospital, 38 in Beaumont Hospital and 34 in Mayo General Hospital.
Overall, the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 has continued to fall in recent weeks, dropping from 676 hospital cases on February 22nd, 1,100 on February 8th and 1,803 on January 25th.
ICU numbers are also falling, down from 154 on February 22nd, 173 on February 8th and 217 on January 25th. There were 103 people in ICU with Covid-19 on Sunday evening, including 64 patients on ventilators.
There were 525 new cases of the virus and three further deaths reported by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) on Sunday. One of these deaths occurred in March and another in January. It brings to 4,422 the total number of people in the State who have died with Covid-19, while the total number of confirmed cases now stands at 223,219.
Quarantine
Meanwhile, the commander of the joint task force Operation Fortitude, Brigadier General Brendan McGuinness has outlined the role the Defence Forces will play in the new mandatory quarantine scheme. The system for quarantining passengers arriving into Ireland was signed into law on Sunday by President Michael D Higgins and will allow the State to require passengers arriving from 20 named countries with a high incidence of Covid-19 to quarantine for 14 days in a designated hotel.
Speaking on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland, Brig Gen McGuinness said roles were “still under design” but that the Defence Forces could offer skills in coordination and liaison.
The mandatory quarantine scheme will involve a wide range of State services, agencies and Government departments along with civilian contractors, he said. “Our role will be around the State official liaison role and that will have a coordination or a connection role between the services that will be provided by State agencies and some areas supplied by private contractors.”
“We’ll engage with the company transporting the passengers, we’ll engage with the company accommodating the passengers and of course the security as well. We will have that overseeing, connecting role between all those services to make sure that the scheme will hopefully run smoothly, as required by the legislation.”
Members of the Defence Forces who are “Covid-facing’ have been vaccinated along with HSE frontline colleagues, he said.
The North’s First Minister Arlene Foster said on Sunday she would be amenable to the UK providing the Irish Government with any surplus Covid-19 vaccines it had.
She said it was an issue the British prime minister Boris Johnson should discuss with the Taoiseach.
However, it is understood the Government is of the view that by the time the UK has spare vaccines in June or July, Ireland is likely to have a surplus as well. It has been pointed out that the UK has a long way to go before excess supplies are available.