The Covid-19 vaccination programme is being extended to Merlin Park Community Nursing Units today, with other Galway nursing homes and care facilities to come on stream next week.
The Pfizer BioNTech Vaccine, which has been put through rigorous safety tests and analysis and has been approved by the European Medicines Agency. It began last week at Intensive Care Units and on Covid wards in UHG, and will be offered to residents in the Merlin Park Community Nursing Units from today, Thursday January 7. Vaccination teams will then move to other nursing homes and care facilities in Galway from next week.
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Getting the vaccine to Ireland
Public health teams - which include an initial 1,700 vaccinators with training of more staff underway - will be working to vaccinate residents in at least 150 nursing homes per week across the State.
Ireland has opted into five advance purchase agreements for vaccines giving the State access to more than 14 million doses. Last week, the EU confirmed agreement to acquire another 100 million doses of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine which will increase allocation from 1.11 million to 3.44 million.
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Initially, Ireland will get 40,000 doses per week but this will increase as Pfizer ramps up manufacturing. The next vaccine to be introduced is likely to be the Moderna Vaccine which is being considered and reviewed for authorisation by the EMA this week. The Government has pre-ordered 875,000 doses of this vaccine.
Another vaccine, the Oxford AstraZeneca Vaccine, which does not need to be deep-frozen when stored, is also being reviewed by the EMA with more data, including a large trial to test the safety and efficacy, on the way.
Prioritising the vaccine
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Seán Kyne, Fine Gael Senator in Galway and member of the Oireachtas Health Committee, said the Government, HSE, and the Department of Health are focused on ensuring the vaccines are administered as soon as the deliveries are received and that the schedule in the Covid-19 Vaccination Strategy and Implementation Plan, which prioritises people most at risk, is followed.
“Our immediate priority is on looking after the most vulnerable people and frontline healthcare workers," he said. "The main challenge in rolling out the vaccines is supply given an understandably unprecedented demand from across the world to treat Covid-19 which was only discovered a year ago. EU Member States, including Ireland, are working together on procuring vaccines with each country receiving allocations in proportion to its population and receiving the allocations simultaneously."
Staing safe, staying the course
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Sen Kyne said that now is not the time for complacency or for believing we are over the worst of Covid-19. “Given the increase in case numbers and hospitalisations," he said, "it is vital we adhere to the public health advice to reduce social contacts, practice good hygiene etiquette, work from home if we can, and to only make essential journeys."
