TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has said that parents will be given an opportunity to “make an informed decision” about vaccinating their children from Covid-19.

Martin said he did not want to pre-empt a plan by the HSE about how the vaccination of young children would take place, but noted that it would take a huge logistical effort for it to take place in schools. 

“We’ve got over 3,000 primary schools, just think of the logistics of having teams in every single school. So the HSE will work on an operational plan on the best way to vaccinate children, they will announce that when they have that plan decided upon, and I think it’s best to wait for the comprehensive plan,” he said. 

Martin said the HSE presided over the “the best vaccination programme in the world” and that they should be given space to put together a plan for the vaccination of children aged 5-11. 

“We’re going to create a comprehensive plan that will inform parents of course and there has to be a programme for them to make informed decisions,” he said. 

The National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) yesterday approved the roll-out of the Pfizer/BionTech vaccine to all children aged 5-11. 

NIAC strongly recommended that children with an underlying condition, those who live with a younger child with complex medical needs or those living with a immunocompromised adult receive a vaccine.

NIAC also said that all other children aged 5-11 should be offered a vaccine. 

Speaking today, HSE chief Clinical Officer Dr Colm Henry said the advice to the latter group was “a different grade of advice” and he said it was “a complicated message” that the HSE had to deliver to parents. 

In late November, the European Medicines Agency first approved the use of the Pfizer vaccine for children aged 5-11. 

Since then, Henry said the HSE has been working towards the planning of how the vaccine would be distributed to that age group. 

“There’s been a great amount of preparation by our National Immunisation Office, who have a lot of experience of childhood vaccination programmes, led by Dr Lucy Jessop. They’ve been working in anticipation, long before the letter came from NIAC yesterday,” Henry said. 

How best to administer the vaccine, what settings to administer it, how to communicate with parents, what information to give, this is all in anticipatory planning.

He added: “Since we got the advice yesterday, we’ve been working around the clock in seeing how we can translate this into something simple and effective. What is quite a complicated message into something simple and effective, so that parents can make the right decision for their children.”

Speaking yesterday, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said is absolutely the choice of parents alone whether they want to have their children vaccinated or not.