Guernsey Press

AstraZeneca jab rollout to resume in Ireland on Saturday

It comes after deputy chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn recommended the vaccine programme be restarted.

Published
Last updated

The resumption of the rollout of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine will restart in Ireland on Saturday.

The announcement came on Friday night after the state’s deputy chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn recommended the use of the jab.

His decision came following the green light from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and Ireland’s National Immunisation Advisory Committee (Niac).

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly hailed the development as good news.

Health Service Executive chief clinical officer Dr Colm Henry said the AstraZeneca vaccination will resume with a “relatively modest number” on Saturday.

“Our priority, is to restart the administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine, in as safe and timely a manner as possible,” he said.

“We plan to administer the AstraZeneca vaccine over this weekend in our acute hospital settings.”

The use of AstraZeneca in Ireland was paused on Sunday following reports of unusual blood clots in Norway.

“People should be reassured that we acted quickly. We saw a signal, we acted upon it, counterparts across the EU acted upon it. They undertook an urgent investigation. They have looked at all the data and they have concluded it is safe to recommence the programme,” he said.

“I would urge anyone now who is offered the vaccine to take it.

“We know that it is an extremely effective vaccine. We have seen the phenomenal effects that it is having on caseloads in other jurisdictions and we’re lucky to have it as part of a range of vaccines that are now available to us.”

Coronavirus – Fri Mar 12, 2021
Taioseach Micheal Martin (Julien Behal/PA)

He also said the Government was “gearing up” to resume administering the jab after its use was temporarily suspended in Ireland “in an abundance of caution” over the raising of concerns around blood clots.

Mr Martin was speaking at the Port of Cork on Friday as he announced 405 million euros of funding for regeneration projects in Cork city and county.

Asked whether he would take the AstraZeneca vaccine, Mr Martin said: “Yes I would. I would indeed.

“I expect a decision will be made today in relation to that. We’re gearing up in terms of resuming that.”

Dr Glynn also indicated on Thursday that tough restrictions could remain in place until June.

Speaking on Friday, the Taoiseach said he would not speculate about changes to the public health restrictions for April and that the Government would inform the public in the next couple of weeks of any changes to the measures.

“I am not going to speculate but we will give people clear indications in advance of April 5 as to how we see April panning out,” Mr Martin said.

“I don’t believe in speculating beyond that and we will certainly make it very clear to people.

“We are thinking and reflecting on the outdoor situation and outdoor activities and what might be possible there because mental health is very important.”

He added: “We do understand and get it that people are fed up.

“I want to thank people; I think people have been remarkable. We have brought numbers down from a very high level after Christmas to very, relatively low levels. They’re still high.

“Our big concern is the variant. This variant is more transmissible.”

The deaths of a further 10 people with Covid-19 and another 507 cases were announced on Friday.

As of 8am, there were 336 Covid-positive patients in hospital, of whom 87 were in ICU.

As of March 16, 632,359 doses of the vaccine had been administered in Ireland.

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.