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The Government is \u201clikely\u201d to miss its target of 80 per cent of Ireland\u2019s adult population receiving at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine by the end of June due to supply issues, the T\u00e1naiste said.<\/p>\nThe Government is \u201clikely\u201d to miss its target of 80 per cent of Ireland\u2019s adult population receiving at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine by the end of June due to supply issues, the T\u00e1naiste said.<\/p>\n
However, Leo Varadkar told the D\u00e1il that if the target is missed it will only be by \u201ca few weeks\u201d.<\/p>\n
His comments came after Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said it is \u201cunclear\u201d whether the Government will be able to reach its target due to \u201cserious concerns\u201d over the supply of the Janssen vaccine.<\/p>\n
During Leaders\u2019 Questions, Mr Varadkar described the vaccination program as going \u201creally well\u201d, adding that supply is the \u201conly constraint\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Fine Gael leader said the target has \u201calways been subject to supplies arriving on time\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the supplies do not arrive on time, well, then there is a risk that we will miss those targets, and that does now appear to be likely,\u201d Mr Varadkar said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if we do miss the target, it will be because of factors beyond our control \u2013 and that is the supplies of the vaccine.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said revised targets will be outlined on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we do miss targets, I think we\u2019ll only miss them by a few weeks because orders that were expected to arrive at the end of June now might arrive in early July,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are able to vaccinate 300,000 to 400,000 a week, so once we get them we\u2019ll get them out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Varadkar also said that the people of Ireland have every reason to be hopeful about the summer ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are ahead of ourselves in terms of where we thought we would be in terms of hospitalizations and cases,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor that reason we can look forward to a very positive announcement on Friday in relation to the reopening of our society and our economy and the phased return to international travel and events.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Government is due to announce a further easing of Covid-19 restrictions on Friday.<\/p>\n
He made the remarks in response to Labour leader Alan Kelly, who said the Health Minister had dropped a \u201cbombshell\u201d earlier in the D\u00e1il when it came to vaccine delivery.<\/p>\n
On Thursday morning, Mr Donnelly said it is \u201cunclear\u201d whether the Government will be able to reach its target of vaccinating 80 per cent of the population by the end of June, due to supply issues.<\/p>\n
He also told TDs there are \u201cserious concerns\u201d over the supply of the Janssen vaccine in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt looks like we\u2019re going to get a significant under-delivery on Janssen and there are question marks as to what\u2019s going to come in from AstraZeneca,\u201d the Wicklow TD said.<\/p>\n
Ireland was due to receive 470,000 doses of the Janssen vaccine, made by Johnson & Johnson, in June.<\/p>\n
But the minister said the best-case scenario now is that around half of the doses \u2014 about 235,000 \u2014 will be delivered. In the worst-case scenario the figure could be \u201cas low as around 60,000\u201d.<\/p>\n
In total, Mr Donnelly said, more than 2.44 million doses of vaccines are due to be delivered next month, including 1.42 million Pfizer doses, about 476,000 Janssen doses, some 365,000 AstraZeneca doses and 176,000 Moderna doses.<\/p>\n
The minister added that it is \u201cnot possible\u201d at this point to give an accurate estimation of how many will actually be delivered and that it is a cause of \u201congoing concern\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Donnelly also told the D\u00e1il he is \u201cdelighted to share\u201d that half of Ireland\u2019s adult population will have received at least one Covid-19 vaccination by the end of this week.<\/p>\n
Some 280,000 doses will be given this week, following a record 300,000 doses being administered last week.<\/p>\n
To date, more than 2.5 million doses of vaccine have been administered.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful thing to think that, in the dark and brutal year that this country has faced, that by the end of this weekend half our adult population will have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The minister thanked the thousands of healthcare workers involved in the administration of the vaccination program on behalf of the Government.<\/p>\n
He said the Health Service Executive (HSE) will announce details in the coming days of when people aged 40 to 44 will be able to register for their jab.<\/p>\n
At present people aged between 45 and 69 can register through the HSE\u2019s online portal to receive a vaccination.<\/p>\n
Mr Donnelly said more than 89 per cent of people aged between 60 and 69 have received at least one dose of a vaccine.<\/p>\n
In the 50-59 age group, he said the registration rate is more than 86 per cent and \u201cgrowing all the time\u201d, with more than 70% having received their first dose.<\/p>\n
He added that almost 100 per cent of people aged 70 and over are now fully vaccinated.<\/p>\n
The minister also said the vaccination program will be sticking to a 12-week interval between AstraZeneca doses, despite concerns over the efficacy of one dose against the Indian variant of the virus.<\/p>\n
He said officials had considered shortening the interval between doses but decided against it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did discuss 12 weeks versus eight weeks as per the UK but, as I said earlier on, the second doses are already committed, having moved from 16 to 12 weeks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Asked whether they had considered giving AstraZeneca recipients the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine for their second dose to speed up the administration of jabs, Mr Donnelly said: \u201cThere has been no suggestion that we would switch out the second AstraZeneca dose for, say, one of the mRNA vaccines.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this point, all of the vaccines we have are committed to the various age cohorts that have opened up. The first dose scheduled and then the second dose planned afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n