A TOTAL OF 360 people were in hospital with Covid-19 in Ireland as of 11am. There are currently 86 people in ICU.
On Sunday, there were 349 patients in hospital who have Covid-19. However, there were fewer discharges from hospitals at weekends compared to weekdays.
Two weeks ago at the start of March, there were 540 Covid-19 patients in hospital and 117 in ICU.
It comes after the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) recommended that the administration of the Covid-19 AstraZeneca vaccine be temporarily deferred, pending the outcome of an investigation at EU level.
The NIAC made its recommendation following a notification from the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) on Saturday of a new safety alert regarding the vaccine.
This alert came from the Norwegian Medicines Agency following reports of four new serious, rare blood clotting events, including some complicated by very low levels of platelets in the blood of younger adults after vaccination.
In a statement yesterday morning, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said: “It has not been concluded that there is any link between the Covid-19 vaccine AstraZeneca and these cases.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio One’s This Week yesterday, Dr Glynn said the EMA is due to meet again on Wednesday or Thursday to discuss data collected regarding the situation.
With regards to the roll-out of the Pfizer/Moderna vaccine, HSE’s Chief Clinical Officer Dr Colm Henry told the programme that the distribution of those will continue “without disruption”.
The people affected by the suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine will be healthcare workers and the category of people aged 16-69 who have high-risk conditions, category 4, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland today.
Donnelly said he hopes the 30,000 people due to receive the AstraZeneca Covid-19 jab this week will have their vaccinations rescheduled in the next few weeks.
“However, acting on the precautionary principle, and pending receipt of further information, the NIAC has recommended the temporary deferral of the Covid-19 vaccine AstraZeneca vaccination programme in Ireland.”
New figures from the HSE show that up to last Friday, 606,904 people had received a dose of a Covid-19 vaccine – of these, 443,092 were first doses and 163,812 were second doses.
“Hopefully the 30,000 for this week will be rescheduled very, very quickly,” Donnelly said.
When asked if all of the 30,000 people will be vaccinated within the time left in March, he said: “I’d say pretty close, possibly, maybe there may be a bit of spill over into into April, but very, very quickly.
“We should be able to reschedule then and in so doing not have to delay other people. So in other words, do the 30,000 at the same time as people who we were planning on doing in the coming weeks as well.
Yesterday, public health officials confirmed 384 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland no further deaths.
The total number of confirmed cases has reached 226,358, while the death toll in Ireland is 4,534.
Dr Glynn said that by the end of this month, health officials will have a better idea about what the Covid-19 situation will be like in April and May.
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