By Tony O’Riley-
Health chiefs in Ireland are planning to start lifting restrictions were lifted in Northern Ireland, after 30,000 kinds between the ages of 12 and 15 were announced to have received jabs of the coronavirus vaccine .
It has been reported that health chiefs will begin examining the lifting of rules arounds things like social distancing and mask wearing in the near future.
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Over 3 million people in Ireland are fully vaccinated meanwhile vaccination of children aged 12 and over has already begun.
About 30,000 children aged 12 to 15 received a first Covid-19 vaccine in the first two days of the rollout to that age group.
Health Service Executive chief executive, Paul Reid,(pictured) said 90,000 children in the cohort had been registered for a vaccine appointment by Sunday.
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Some vaccine centres began to give jabs to 12 to 15-year-olds on Friday but the main rollout began in earnest on Saturday.
The children, who need the consent of a parent or guardian to get vaccinated, are receiving Pfizer or Moderna jabs.
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.
He 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.
Mr Reid said those children who had not been vaccinated would still have to isolate.
“We 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,” he told RTE Radio One on Sunday.
“There’s 30,000 in total vaccines administered to 12 to 15-year-olds since we commenced on Friday in some locations, but primarily yesterday.”
Mr Reid said 81% of the adult population in Ireland was now fully vaccinated and 90% partially vaccinated.
While expressing concern about rising Mr Reid said the figures had to be viewed in context and stressed that the vaccination programme was having a significant impact.
He said the isolation policy for schools was aligned with public health advice for the population as a whole.
“You are more exposed if you are not fully vaccinated and you are highly more protected if you are vaccinated, so it’s really aligned with the public health advice that we’ve put in place throughout,” he said.
Mr Reid said the figures had to be viewed in context and stressed that the vaccination programme was having a significant impact.
“Vaccinations are working, they are reducing hospitalisations, they are reducing illness, ICU and mortality,” he said.
“If you think back to January, we had 2,020 people in hospital and 212 people in ICU.
“We do have a concern with the rising numbers, rising everyday case numbers.
“We’re now at over 2,000 and equally just seeing some rise in case numbers across all ages and across the whole country.”
Mr Reid was also asked about inconsistencies around partner access at different maternity hospitals in Ireland.
He said he had asked senior officials, including chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan, to meet patient advisory groups and advocates next week in an attempt to address some of the issues.
“We do want to find a shared pathway out of this,” he said.
Earlier, Mr Reid said Ireland’s vaccine programme would become increasingly reliant on the mRNA vaccines Pfizer and Moderna and would be moving away from the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson – also known as the Janssen vaccine – jabs.
He told Newstalk: “That’s the likely trajectory, the likely trajectory at EU level.
“At the EU level, the steering board has recommended each country make a decision to suspend the further delivery of Johnson & Johnson or indeed AstraZeneca.
“And that’s the approach that we will likely be taking.”
Mr Reid highlighted that the recent vaccine supply deal with Romania would see 700,000 mRNA vaccines delivered to Ireland in the coming weeks.
HSE Chief Paul Reid said 90,000 children in the cohort had been registered for a vaccine appointment by early Sunday afternoon.
A Social Distance sign during the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic in Dublin’s City Centre
Among the options discussed by officials was removing the requirement for distancing and mask-wearing outside or in private indoor settings.
Masks in other indoor settings may still be required however such as on public transport and in shops at least into next year.
However, these restrictions being lifted are said to be wholly dependent on the Covid-19 situation with pressure on hospitals being closely examined.
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