Up to 150,000 fewer people may get the COVID vaccine by the end of March due to supply issues.
The Oireachtas Health Committee has heard there’s no guarantees in relation to supply after the first quarter of this year.
It comes as a Sixmilebridge native Mircrobiologist has warned it will take until the end of this year at least, for vaccines to get ahead of the Covid-19 virus.
Under questioning by TDs this morning officials in charge of the roll-out of the vaccine were keen to stress the only impediment is supply.
The Head of the vaccine taskforce said they’re rolling out doses of the vaccine as soon as they get them.
But Professor Brian MacCraith said that supply is going to be even more squeezed than thought in the first quarter of this year:
That means that instead of vaccinating 700,000 people in the top three priority groups by the end of March, just 550,000 are likely to be inoculated.
Professor MacCraith was keen to stress this could change pending talks with AstraZeneca and another delivery from Moderna.
In more positive news he said the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, which is one shot and can be stored in a regular fridge, could be ready to go by early April or late March.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is expected to be formally approved for use in the EU this afternoon but it’s still unclear whether it will include an age restriction, after Germany’s vaccine committee recommended that it not be given to people over the age of 65.
The row between the EU and AstraZenca over supply of the vaccine has yet to be resolved.
HSE CEO Paul Reid admits there’s currently a degree of uncertainty surrounding the roll out programme.
A Sixmilebridge native Microbiologist believes that while vaccine roll out across the EU is much slower than expected, there will be a big difference over the coming months.
Professor James McInerny, who’s Head of the School of Life Sciences at the University of Nottingham, says because of the properties of the UK varient, decision makers have to continue to be very careful so the virus doesn’t get out of hand.
He’s confident that current measures are working and that the roll out of the vaccine will be gamechanger, but he insists we have to be on our guard for a number of months at least.
