{"id":22732,"date":"2021-08-15T10:47:01","date_gmt":"2021-08-15T14:47:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=22732"},"modified":"2021-08-15T10:47:04","modified_gmt":"2021-08-15T14:47:04","slug":"almost-30000-12-to-15-year-olds-receive-vaccinations-so-far-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=22732","title":{"rendered":"Almost 30,000 12 To 15-Year-Olds Receive Vaccinations So Far This Weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Around 30,000 children aged 12 to 15 received Covid-19 vaccines in the first two days of the rollout to that age group in Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health Service Executive chief executive Paul Reid said 90,000 children in the cohort had been registered for a vaccine appointment by early Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some vaccines centers began to give jabs to 12 to 15-year-olds on Friday but the main rollout began in earnest on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The children, who need the consent of a parent or guardian to get vaccinated, are receiving Pfizer or Moderna jabs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are around 280,000 children in that age group in Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Reid said he was not concerned at the uptake level so far and expected there to be continuous registrations over the coming two weeks ahead of the new school term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The HSE boss also confirmed that children who are fully vaccinated would not have to isolate if they were identified as a close contact of a positive case within the school environment, as long as they were not displaying symptoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Reid said those children who had not been vaccinated would still have to isolate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe now have almost 90,000 12 to 15-year-olds who are registered on the portal or may have just received it directly from a GP,\u201d he told RT\u00c9 Radio One on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s 30,000 in total vaccines administered to 12 to 15-year-olds since we commenced on Friday in some locations, but primarily yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Reid said 81 per cent of the adult population in Ireland was now fully vaccinated and 90 per cent partially vaccinated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the isolation policy for schools was aligned with public health advice for the population as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou are more exposed if you are not fully vaccinated and you are highly more protected if you are vaccinated, so it\u2019s really aligned with the public health advice that we\u2019ve put in place throughout,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The HSE boss also expressed concern at rising Covid-19 case numbers in Ireland. The 2,074 confirmed cases reported on Saturday was the first time since January that the daily total had exceeded 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Reid said hospital numbers had increased six-fold in six weeks, with 243 patients in hospital on Sunday and 43 in ICU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he said the figures had to be viewed in context and stressed that the vaccination program was having a significant impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVaccinations are working, they are reducing hospitalizations, they are reducing illness, ICU and mortality,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you think back to January, we had 2,020 people in hospital and 212 people in ICU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe do have a concern with the rising numbers, rising everyday case numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re now at over 2,000 and equally just seeing some rise in case numbers across all ages and across the whole country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Reid was also asked about inconsistencies around partner access at different maternity hospitals in Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he had asked senior officials, including chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan, to meet with patient advisory groups and advocates next week in an attempt to address some of the issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe do want to find a shared pathway out of this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier, Mr Reid said Ireland\u2019s vaccine program would become increasingly reliant on the mRNA vaccines Pfizer and Moderna and would be moving away from the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson jabs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told Newstalk: \u201cThat\u2019s the likely trajectory, the likely trajectory at EU-level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the EU-level, the steering board has recommended each country make a decision to suspend the further delivery of Johnson & Johnson or indeed AstraZeneca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s the approach that we will likely be taking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Reid highlighted that the recent vaccine supply deal with Romania would see 700,000 mRNA vaccines delivered to Ireland in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

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