Covid-19: Vaccinations to begin today as sharp surge in hospitalizations reported
Inoculations get underway at four hospitals.
The Cabinet was briefed last night on the latest news on administering the first doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which begins today in four hospitals. Picture: Marco Alpozzi/LaPresse via AP
Tue, 29 Dec, 2020 - 06:30
Paul Hosford, Political Correspondent
The first vaccines will be administered in Ireland today amid warnings that the third wave of Covid-19 has already led to more hospitalisations than in the entirety of the second wave.
The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) has reported a sharp surge in hospitalisations over the last two days, just as the vaccine rollout programme begins.
Waterford, Ireland / WLR
Dec 27, 2020 12:10 PM
A breakdown of the HSE’s Nursing Homes draft vaccinations schedule has been published by the Sunday Independent newspaper.
There are 583 nursing homes in Ireland, and the widespread roll-out of vaccinations to all sites will begin on January 11th, with a soft roll-out to a small number of nursing homes beginning on January 4th.
The first vaccinations in nursing homes in Waterford will take place on January 18th, according to the draft schedule.
Two vaccination teams will administer the two-dose vaccine to all 14 residential facilities in the county starting with St Joseph’s hospital in Dungarvan and finishing on the 29th with St Carthages House and Dunabbey House.
The Saolta Group, which includes Galway University Hospital, said it does not comment on the specific details relating to individual outbreaks.
It confirmed that over the past number of months, the hospital, like others, has managed a number of outbreaks of Covid-19. An outbreak is defined as two or more cases.
A statement said: “In the event of an outbreak, an Outbreak Control Team is established and all the necessary measures are taken. When a case of Covid-19 is identified in a hospital setting, the hospital follows the national public health and occupational health advice in relating to managing staff who may be close contacts of confirmed cases of Covid-19 or who may be symptomatic.”
First day of vaccination programme expected to move to December 29
Tender contract for diagnostics and services from private sector finalised
After initial delivery of 10,000 doses of the first vaccine against Covid-19 due on St. Stephen’s Day, the Health Service Executive (HSE) expects a further 31,000 doses to arrive within days. The first anticipated scheduled delivery is 9,750 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines in 10 boxes on December 26. “The plan is to vaccinate, at least, some long term care residents on December 30 and 31, as part of our Day One and Day Two plan, and also some healthcare workers in acute hospitals,” HSE Chief Executive, Paul Reid, told the latest media briefing yesterday afternoon (December 23).
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