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THE ROLLOUT OF booster vaccines for younger age groups will be announced by the end of this week, HSE Vaccination Lead Damien McCallion has said.
Currently, people can avail of a booster if they are aged 40 and older, pregnant and aged 30 and over, living in a nursing home or a long-term healthcare facility, or a healthcare worker aged 30 and over.
McCallion also told today’s press briefing that the vaccination roll-out for five to 11 year olds will begin on 10 January, while children considered high-risk will be able to avail of the jab from the first week in January in vaccination centres and certain clinics.
Also speaking at the last HSE briefing of the year, Paul Reid warned that hospitals are dealing with high levels of demand with hospital numbers up “nearly five times the number this time last year”.
Reid said the arrival of the Omicron variant poses a “significant challenge” the health service, in which 3,800 healthcare staff are out of work due to being sick with Covid-19 or deemed a close contacts of a case. He said this number was down from over 5,000 four weeks ago.
“This day last year there were 239 Covid patients in hospital and 25 in ICU. Today, 431 are in hospital and 102 in ICU,” said Reid, noting that staff are “understandably fearful” about what they might face in January as they head into a period of uncertainty.
HSE CEO kicking off the last Covid briefing before Christmas. He says we're heading into a period of uncertainty and staff are "understandably fearful" about what they might face in January. pic.twitter.com/cF6YWuvU1P
— Michelle Hennessy (@michellehtweet) December 22, 2021
According to the latest figures, 53% of people in hospital with Covid-19 are not fully vaccinated. Reid also said that 54% of those in intensive had not been vaccinated.
The HSE chief asked that people only attend hospitals over the Christmas period if they need urgent care, asking people to attend minor injury units and GPs instead.
“Don’t delay it if it’s urgent,” he added.
“If you do want to give very many people a very nice gift that not’s just for Christmas, go and get your booster”.
So far this week 186,000 vaccine doses have been administered – 183,000 were boosters. Yesterday alone 107,000 doses were administered – 104,000 were boosters
The HSE yesterday opened an online self-scheduler to allow people to book their own appointment for a Covid-19 booster vaccine at a number of vaccination centres.
The scheduling system, similar to the one currently used to book PCR tests, will offer more than 3,000 individual appointments from this morning.
The appointments are available at Croke Park in Dublin, the National Show Centre in Swords, Co Dublin, the Astro Active Centre in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, and Scoil Carmel in Limerick, which will start on Thursday morning.
Damien McCallion said yesterday was the busiest day so far in community testing with just under 32,000 testing appointments offered across the country. He said there are currently 41 testing sites and that the HSE is planning additional centres to deal with the increased demand.
The positivity rate in community testing is now 21.2%, with over 200,000 Covid-19 tests offered over the last seven days.
Earlier, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said there are “no plans for meetings this week” to discuss the Covid-19 situation but said he could not rule out further discussions to assess matters after Christmas.
The Taoiseach told reporters yesterday that he is in daily contact with officials and public health experts to get a read on the situation. The government is still awaiting data on the impact the Omicron variant might have on hospitalisations and ICU, stating there is still a great deal of uncertainty.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan, meanwhile, has said the National Public Health Emergency Team will continue to monitor international data around Omicron over the Christmas period.
-With reporting from Michelle Hennessy
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Already under pressure??
The health system has been under pressure for decades. Paul Reid needs to stop blaming covid and to start doing what he’s overpaid to do.
@John O’Sullivan: you hit the nail on head
@John Quinn:
Reid was in the job less than a year before this hit…
What do you think he could do?
Not saying everything was or is perfect but we done well compared to others
@Cowboy Ted: we done well…can you give me an example apart from high vaccinated numbers of where we done well
@Cowboy Ted: we done well…can you give me an example apart from high vaccinated numbers of where we done well?
5 times as many in hospital after a year of injections and billions spent. The only solutions proposed by the HSE / NPHET / government and the media are the reintroduction of restrictions and getting ‘boosters’ of the same stuff. None of this is adding up.
@Alan Kennedy: your maths is the main thing not adding up we have just over 400 in hospital now compared to 1889 on the 27th of January.maths isn’t your strong suit.those pesky injections are not helping I can see
@Alan Kennedy: Your conveniently forgetting that pretty much everything has been open and nearly all restrictions removed as opposed to last year. So without vaccinations the cases and hospitalisations would have been off the charts. Also your figures don’t add up!
@Alan Kennedy: based on the number of unvaccinated currently in ICU without vaccines we would have approximately 715 not 100 odd. The vaccines are working.
@Sean Mccabe: comparing to a different date at a highly infectious time does you no justice.the numbers in January for me will tell a lot-this December highly vaxxed ,restrictions compared to last December tiny numbered vaxxed no restrictions..
@Brian Burns: Last December no restrictions??? We were in level 5 for 6 weeks until 4th December and then back in Level 5 on Xmas eve.
@Brian Burns: oh but it does do me justice because Alan stated in his comment 1 year so I went back 1 year checked the numbers they were 1889 fast forward to know just over 400 so try keep up with me that means he’s talking crap because there’s not 5 times more people in hospital it’s the opposite hope that clears it up for ya
Many under 30s are already getting them at pharmacies. Moving at this pace is chaotic but they seem to be getting it done.
@Homes: I’m 33 and got mine today in my local pharmacy. I had booked but they were doing walk ins too and some of those looked early 20s. Lots of friends the same age got them over the past few days too in pharmacies and GPs.
@Homes:
It’s no accident. The new rules around self isolation have been carefully designed to increase vaccine and booster uptake.
Already over 1 million boosters given out to the 3.6 million vaccinated already
@Homes: and GP practices too.
I got my booster at a walk in yesterday. Moderna, first two were Pfizer. I’ve had reactions to all 3 but this one really kicked my backside. Glad to have it but not wanting this to have to be a regular thing
@Gerry McCaughey: all 3 of mine were Pfizer. The booster definitely created a very strong reaction. I was quite ill, but only lasted around 24-36 hours. If that was the reaction to the vaccine, makes me even more determined not to get covid. Nasty
@Elaine Phelan: good to know yours didn’t last too long. 28 hours in my arm still hurts at the site which is no big deal but my entire arm was throbbing all last night. I feel like I have a fever but I just took my temp and it’s normal. Head just feels fuzzy. I had Covid at the very beginning of the pandemic and ironically 2 of the 3 jabs felt worse than the symptoms I had then lol but having just lost the first person close to me last week I want to keep it at bay.
@Gerry McCaughey: yeah I had high temp (not super high, but 38), headache, ear ache, muscle ache, sore arm etc. Quite intense for 24 hours, and then maybe 12 hours where I didn’t feel 100%. Thankfully doesn’t last long and better than the alternative, and glad to have it before I visit my parents who are in their 70s
@Gerry McCaughey: I’m experiencing the exact same scenario now got my moderna booster yesterday at 12 still feeling rough.cant wait for it to pass
@Sean Mccabe: hopefully we’ll be in full form by Christmas. Take care
@Elaine Phelan: take care and happy Christmas
@Gerry McCaughey: and to you and yours Gerry
@Elaine Phelan: I’m glad I wasn’t the only one. First two (Pfizer) were a walk in the park – just a sore arm but no other side-effects. After the booster (Pfizer again) I felt absolutely awful for 24 hours: temperature and aches and pains all over.
@FrustratedASDMum: yeah it was definitely not fun. Thankfully it didn’t last too long, but I hope we won’t have to take them every 6 months
@Elaine Phelan: woke up this morning feeling fine, so it sounds like mine had the same length as yours. I would advise people to wait until after Christmas to get theirs, just in case. Wouldn’t want to be feeling it over Christmas.
GP’s have a large number of vaccines and will try to use as much as they can over the next few days. If you want a booster please contact your local GP and see if they could schedule you in. I was in and out in 5 mins.
Just got my boost today in the Spar. Bit of a queue but got it in the end. Feel terrible after it. chocolate guilt.
Good! Positive news. HSE getting things done, as opposed to those who moan about what might/should/could have been done. Wishing everyone as good a Christmas as we possibly can have in the situation we currently find ourselves in.
Getting mine at half at half 5. Gp rang me 20 minutes ago to see if I wanted one.
My two 19 year olds got them today!
Anybody had any side effects?I’ve had 2 vaccines, a flu jab a booster and a tetanus jab this year. I can see better in the dark, my phone reception has improved immensely but I appear to have grown a fourth testicle and a mole that looks oddly like Harry Potter.
@Rostyballs78: Ever since I got my jabs, every morning when I wake up, I hear the Windows 98 welcome music?
Most over 40s will have gone about getting it from Their GPs or pharmacies by the time they get their plan in place
@John Quill: And people taking initiative and being proactive is a bad thing? Everyone knows you can register at your pharmacy or GP and get sorted. Why wait to be included in a major roll out that will obviously take longer as it’s a logistical nightmare.
@John Quill: yes, isn’t it brilliant that people have so many options to get the booster?
I’m 62 and I’m on a waiting list of 5 weeks for the booster in a Dublin chemist. HSE hasn’t even given me an appointment yet.
Wish they had a plan for the 60 year olds. Instead of standing in a queue for hours. We’re waiting in the tall grass for Micheal Martin
@trebloc01: you can just call your GP or a local pharmacy and book in
Most over 40s will have gone about get it from Their GPs or pharmacies by the time they get their plan in place
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