THERE HAS BEEN a minimal supply of Johnson & Johnson vaccines delivered in May, according to HSE Chief Paul Reid.

Alongside this, the HSE has not yet received delivery dates for the J&J vaccine in June.

“We have a minimum supply of Janssen (J&J) in May, approximately about 60,000,” said Reid.

“Some concerns have been expressed and are being expressed around delivery schedules and the clarity of delivery schedules of Janssen.”

Recent recommendations by the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) to the HSE on offering a choice of AstraZeneca or J&J will be given careful consideration according to Reid.

However, they will not be able to offer a choice of AstraZeneca, as they will be using those supplies for second doses.

On second doses of AstraZeneca, the HSE has accepted NIAC’s recommendation to shorten the period between first and second doses to 12 weeks, rather than 16. This change will come into effect from 24 May and will be a staggered change.

Vaccines administered

Last week, the HSE said that they have administered approximately 250,000 vaccines without GP numbers, which are not yet available. Exact figures are not available due to the HSE cyber attack.

However, Reid estimates that once GP data becomes available, this figure will rise to between 280,000 and 290,000 total doses administered.

For this week, Reid expects that between 260,000 and 280,000 vaccines will be administered. 

As of yesterday, Reid says that there have been over 2.2 million vaccines administered by the HSE since the rollout began.

Approximately 1.6 million first doses of vaccine have been administered so far, about 43% of the adult population.

The vaccine registration portal, which opened yesterday for people aged between 45 and 49, saw 25,000 registrations yesterday for that age cohort. Currently, Reid says that there are over 75,000 of that cohort registered for their vaccine.

Currently, anyone aged 48 and above can register for a Covid-19 vaccine, after issues with the vaccine portal were resolved this morning.

It is also expected that a majority of the 50-59 age cohort will have received a first dose of vaccine by next week.

Of those who have registered through the portal, Reid says that 500,000 of them have been vaccinated within the HSE’s vaccination centres.

According to Reid, an additional vaccination centre will be opened in UCD within the coming weeks, joining the other 37 centres.

Hospitalisations 

As of today, there are 103 people in hospital receiving treatment for Covid-19.

41 of those patients are currently receiving treatment in ICU.

Due to the cyber attack on the HSE, the Covid-19 data hub is not being updated with daily figures.

According to HSE Chief Clinical Officer Dr Colm Henry there is now a big difference in the number of cases being reported daily, to the harm that these reported cases are doing.

“We’ve seen a collapse in harm among vaccinated groups, particularly among older people, particularly in those underlying conditions, and in nursing homes,” said Henry.