Patients aged 70 and over will now be vaccinated in the hospital setting following a policy change by the Government.
The issue was raised by Fine Gael Galway senator Sean Kyne at a recent Oireachtas Health Committee meeting. Confirmation of the change came on Tuesday’s from HSE CEO, Paul Reid, and that vaccinations had started for those aged 70 and over who are in hospital.
In raising the issue, Sen Kyne cited the case of an 89-year-old who had been in hospital for three weeks, who had not been vaccinated, andwho, under the then HSE policy, would remain unvaccinated until she was discharged.
“Some patients contracted Covid in hospital,” said Sen Kyne. “The fact that patients aged 70 and over wouldn’t be vaccinated, despite being clinically fine to receive the vaccine, made no sense.”
