Vaccination hubs to be established under Covid-19 vaccine rollout strategy
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Vaccination hubs could be established to allow for the delivery of the first doses of Covid-19 vaccines under Ireland's rollout strategy.
The high-level vaccine taskforce, chaired by Dublin City University president Brian MacCraith, was due to deliver its report to health minister Stephen Donnelly on Friday, setting out Ireland's plan for the logistics of rolling out millions of doses of the vaccines after they are approved by European regulators.
The plan will not be published until after Tuesday's Cabinet meeting to allow the Government time to consider and debate it.
However, it is understood that the plan includes recommendations for the establishment of large-scale 'vaccination hubs' on existing HSE campuses across the country for the administration of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine which is due to be approved by the European Medicines Agency at the end of December. This is due to the need to store this vaccine at -70C.
Other vaccines set for approval do not need this type of storage, which will mean that GPs, pharmacists, and retired medical personnel can be drafted in to administer the vaccinations in the community. However, all vaccines will be given by medical personnel.
It is also understood that the plan will suggest that the rollout of the vaccine will ramp up from January before reaching full scale by May, as well as containing recommendations on the logistics of transporting and storing the vaccines as well as a communications strategy around the vaccines.
The vaccine will be given first to those over the age of 65 who are residents in long-term care facilities, with frontline healthcare workers who are in direct contact with patients second. That will be followed by those aged over 70, beginning with those aged over 85 and working down in bands of five years.
Speaking in Brussels on Friday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that he expected European stocks of the vaccines to "build up" in January and February, allowing for more doses to be available from March.