HSE exploring setting up specialist Covid-19 vaccine centres for children
86% Vaccines The Far Jab Accounts All Ireland Of In For Pfizer Given So
A third dose of the Pfizer jab — the dominant vaccine given in Ireland — is enough to combat the immediate threat of the Omicron variant, the manufacturers have said.
Preliminary testing shows that a booster shot of the Pfizer vaccine offers as much protection against Omicron as the first two doses give against other variants of the coronavirus.
The Pfizer jab accounts for 86% of all vaccines given in Ireland so far, with 6.4m doses administered, including booster shots.
Laboratory work by manufacturers Pfizer and BioNTech found two doses "may not be sufficient” to protect against Omicron, but a booster shot dramatically improves the odds, easing fears that Omicron could evade vaccines and present an entirely new challenge for the scientific community.
The work showed that three doses of the vaccine increased neutralising antibodies against Omicron in people's blood 25-fold compared with two doses.
"A third dose provides a similar level of neutralising antibodies to Omicron as is observed after two doses against wild-type and other variants that emerged before Omicron," the firms said in a statement.
The companies are continuing to work on a variant-specific vaccine for Omicron, and expect to have it available by March "in the event that an adaption is needed to further increase the level and duration of protection".
A lower dose of the Pfizer jab can now be given to children in Ireland, aged five to 11, with the rollout expected to start before Christmas, with the majority of children to be offered the first vaccine in January.
The National Immunisation Advisory Committee (Niac) recommended to Government yesterday that jabs should be offered to around 480,000 primary school children.
Some vulnerable children with underlying health conditions, or living with an immunocompromised person, are expected to be jabbed before Christmas, with the widespread rollout beginning early in the new year.
The Department of Health and the HSE are currently assessing where to safely administer vaccines for children.
The smaller size of a child’s dose — just 10 micrograms, a third of an adult dose — means it is safer to administer the vaccine away from the adult system to avoid potential dosage mix-ups.
Separate clinics may be run in mass vaccination centres, possibly in the early evenings, so children can be taken after school.
Delivery of the lower-dose jabs is expected towards the end of next week, but an exact date has yet not been confirmed.
The first batch will amount to one-third of the overall doses needed for this group.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said more information will be published within days.
"The Department of Health and the HSE are now working on a plan involving the information campaign, and we will do that, and be back in a number of days with a plan," he said.
Earlier, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said people should be prepared to get a fourth dose of vaccines next year, predicting that regular vaccination for Covid will become as common as seasonal flu jabs for some people.
"I think it's advisable that people get the third dose,” he said.
“So it may very well be the case that this is a vaccine that particularly people with medical conditions might have to have on an annual basis, like we do with the flu.”
Mr Varadkar suggested low attendance levels for boosters at vaccine centres may not be solely down to hesitancy, describing the 50% no-show rates at some centres as “unusual”.
"I wonder if there are problems in the booking system or whether there are issues that need to be ironed out," he said.
"I've heard anecdotally that people are getting appointments when they've already had their third dose."