Republic’s pausing of jab ‘is right thing to do’
PAUSING the Oxford/astrazeneca jab in the Republic “was the right thing to do”, a senior Government adviser has said.
Professor Karina Butler said the use of the vaccine has been halted in an “abundance of caution”.
“We and other countries — the Netherlands, Germany, Italy — have paused, and it is just a pause, the use of Astrazeneca,” she said.
“It is about a slight deferral to make sure that we are doing the right thing, using appropriately and giving it to the right people.”
It came as the Republic confirmed no further virus-linked deaths and 575 more cases.
It brings the total number of cases in the country to 227,316 and the total number of virus-related deaths to 4,534.
As of March 12, 606,904 doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland — 443,092 people have received their first dose and 163,812 have received their second dose.
Ireland’s deputy chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn said despite the focus on the vaccine programme “we must not lose sight of the danger that Covid-19 continues to pose”.
He added: “While, in time, vaccines will have a very significant positive impact on Covid, they will not stop a further wave of disease over the coming weeks.
“We are seeing this play out across Europe with many countries now experiencing pressure on their hospital and critical care capacities. We must not let this happen here.”
Dr Ray Walley, a member of the National Covid-19 GP Liaison Committee, said every medication had side-effects, and moved to reassure those who had received the vaccines of its effectiveness.
“Our role as clinicians is to weigh up the benefits and risks of medications. I want to reassure those who have received a Covid-19 vaccine in this country that there are, and continue to be, enormous benefits in the vaccine programme, based on evidence relating to all the vaccines we’re using in this country, including Covid-19 vaccine Astrazeneca.
“The temporary deferral of use of Covid-19 vaccine Astrazeneca is necessary in order to give the assurance that we’re taking notice if there are any safety signals at all, any risks that may be identified during the considerable, ongoing monitoring of vaccination programmes internationally, and I hope people take comfort from this cautious approach.”