Covid vaccination rollout for nursing homes to be accelerated
Staff Vaccine Two The The Accelerate To Weeks Rollout Government In All And Residents Next Moves The To Nursing 19 The As Are Be Home Covid Given
All nursing home residents and staff are to be given the Covid-19 vaccine in the next two weeks as the Government moves to accelerate the rollout.
The announcement came as it was confirmed that a more contagious South African variant of the virus has been found here, sparking serious concern among health officials amid record case numbers.
Health minister Stephen Donnelly said "speed is of the essence", especially for the most vulnerable groups, and therefore the vaccination plan for nursing homes, mental health and disability residential centres will be accelerated.
"We had planned to vaccinate all 75,000 residents and staff with the first dose of the vaccine by the end of January.
“We’re mobilising 65 vaccination teams including hospital vaccinators, community vaccinators, school vaccinators and the National Ambulance Service. Vaccinations will take place seven days a week.”
A brief update on our accelerated vaccine plan, which will see all nursing home residents and staff receive the vaccine within 16 days. This is on top of frontline healthcare staff. pic.twitter.com/GoheniiEuV
— Stephen Donnelly (@DonnellyStephen) January 8, 2021
The Defence Forces are also training up staff in vaccinating as a contingency measure, while private hospitals will provide additional capacity in a deal struck recently.
However, Mr Donnelly has come under pressure to clarify why the planned vaccination of frontline staff at two Cork hospitals today was cancelled at short notice.
As a record 8,248 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed last night, three cases of the South African variant have also been found in Ireland.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan advised anyone who has travelled from the country recently to self-isolate for 14 days and to identify themselves through a GP for testing as soon as possible.
Director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory Dr Cillian De Gascun said: “Preliminary analyses indicate that the South African variant is associated with a heightened viral load, and may have increased transmissibility."
He said there is currently not enough information available to determine whether this variant poses a possible risk to vaccine match and effectiveness, but results are expected in the coming weeks.
Images of people across Ireland receiving the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine brought a ray of hope in an otherwise grim week. pic.twitter.com/WX5uBVdYM1
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) January 8, 2021
The acceleration of the vaccination programme came after Opposition parties hit out at a lack of transparency around staff capacity and the slow pace of the rollout.
Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald said: "The lack of planning for this in advance is indicative of how this Government does its business."
Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall said the mistakes made in relation to what she called "inadequate" staffing of testing and tracing cannot be repeated with vaccinations.
“The Minister for Health urgently needs to provide clarity about who will be administering the vaccines, the staff numbers required, and where the vaccinators will be drawn from," she said.
But senior HSE officials continued to insist this week that the pace of the rollout is set only by vaccine deliveries, not delays inherent in the Irish system.
It is understood the HSE wants to expand the vaccination workforce by redeploying staff as the current team of about 2,000 trained vaccinators is not enough to reach a weekly target of 100,000 doses.
However, it is not clear where these staff might come from in the already stretched system.
Meanwhile, staff in both Mallow and Bantry Hospitals yesterday said they were told they would no longer be receiving the Covid-19 vaccine this weekend as planned.
Cork-South West TD Holly Cairns said staff who were booked in to be vaccinated on Saturday had been told that their appointments will be rescheduled for next week, but have not been given a specific date.
“I have heard conflicting reports as to why the vaccinations were postponed," said Ms Cairns.
A spokesperson for the hospital region denied that the rollout had been cancelled.
“The South/South West Hospital Group can confirm that Mallow General Hospital has made all the necessary preparations and has been prioritised for delivery of the Covid-19 vaccine within the S/SWHG as early as possible next week,” the spokesperson said.