Sourcing issues will not hamper vaccine roll-out in the over 50s
Π π First dose bookings to be honoured: Department Astrazeneca jab safe and effective, say experts
COVID-19 vaccination appointments for people aged over 50 have not been reduced due to Astrazeneca supply issues, the Department of Health has said.
It follows reports that some people have been experiencing difficulties in booking an appointment, including one example where the only available appointment was in Ballymena — an hour away from where the person lived.
It is understood the issues have arisen as a result of demand on the system as opposed to health bosses cutting the number of appointments as a result of supply issues.
The news comes as Health Minister Robin Swann welcomed news that a review by the European Union’s medicines regulator had concluded the Astrazeneca vaccine is “safe and effective”.
The regulator said it “cannot rule out definitively” a link between “a small number of cases of rare and unusual but very serious blood clotting disorders” and the vaccine, though investigations were ongoing.
Emer Cooke, EMA executive director, said this situation was not unexpected, adding that “when you vaccinate millions of people” such reports of rare events will occur.
Mr Swann said: “That confirms the advice we received from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency over the weekend. I would encourage anyone who has an appointment booked to please come forward and get your vaccination.”
The Department of Health has said all appointments for first doses will be honoured, while second doses will be administered on schedule.
Despite this, it has emerged that Northern Ireland’s Covid-19 vaccination programme could be delayed by four weeks in a “worst-case scenario” due to the Astrazeneca supply issues.
Patricia Donnelly, who heads up the programme here, has told the Stormont health committee that she hopes it will only result in a two-week delay.
It emerged on Wednesday that a delivery of Astrazeneca from India to the UK will be delayed, leading to concerns that people will have to wait longer for their vaccine. Briefing the health committee yesterday morning, Ms Donnelly said the development will result in some disruption to Northern Ireland’s programme.
Asked by the committee chair, Sinn Fein’s Colm Gildernew, to outline the overall impact on the programme, she said: “I think worst-case scenario, it probably puts us back by four weeks.
“The mitigation measures we put in place, we hope will only delay us by two weeks, so it won’t have a huge impact.
“We had hoped by the time we had launched the SSE Arena, we would be opening to the over 40s, I think that maybe delayed by two weeks but we will keep that under review and it will very much depend on the remaining deliveries that we get from Astrazeneca.
“But as I said earlier, we have tried to find some mitigation through further use of the Pfizer vaccine so it will slightly delay it, but it won’t, I think, reduce our plans overall.”
She added: “Our plan had been to get to the over 40s by the beginning of April, it will be later in April, I hope at the very latest it will be the end of April, but if we can bring it any time further forward, we certainly will.”
Ms Donnelly also revealed that plans to deliver 40,000 doses of vaccine a week at the mass vaccination centre at the SSE Arena have now been scaled back due to the supply issues.
The centre is being opened up to boost the number of people who can get their first dose of the vaccine while the other vaccination centres prioritise the administration of second doses.
Ms Donnelly said the centre will open on March 29 as planned but steps have been taken to reduce the number of staff working there due to the expected reduction in vaccine that will be available.
From the start of this week, the vaccination programme opened up to anyone over the age of 50 and Ms Donnelly said there has been a “significant response” — despite the fact the Astrazeneca vaccine had been linked to an increased risk of developing a blood clot.
At the end of Tuesday, 704,000 doses had been delivered here, with 640,000 people vaccinated and Ms Donnelly said vaccinations continued throughout St Patrick’s Day.
‘I hope at the very latest it will be the end of April for over-40s, but if we can bring it further forward we certainly will’