Reporting by James Cox and Aoife Kearns
An online registration system for Covid-19 vaccinations for people aged between 65 and 69 will open on Thursday morning, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has confirmed.
People in this age bracket will be able to register on the HSE's online registration system using their PPS number and Eircodes from tomorrow.
These people will be called for vaccinations from next week.
Further information on the registration system will be announced later on today.
“All of us in the Department of Health, HSE and taskforce are working flat out to ensure we keep getting vaccines administered as quickly as possible,” Mr Donnelly said on Twitter on Wednesday.
“We are guided by safety and the clinical advice and will continue to be as vaccination is our pathway out of this pandemic.”
The AstraZeneca vaccine has been paused for those under 60 due to issues with blood clots following a recommendation from the National Immunisation Advistory Committee (Niac).
A Government source told The Irish Times that AstraZeneca could be rapidly rolled out to the 60-69 age group to keep momentum going in the State's vaccination programme.
Community Gardaí
Waterford Gardaí will be on-hand to help any older people who may have problems accessing the HSE's online portal.
Community Sergeant for Dungarvan Gardaí Ken O'Donovan says that anyone who finds the system intimidating can contact them.
"I know from my own parents they would struggle with the online applications themselves, so we just want to get it out there that we're here to help the public.
"We have a new Community Policing Unit set up with four members, and we want to go out and help the public in any way we can.
"This online application may seem a little bit daunting for people of a certain generation so we just want to offer assistance to them," Sergent O'Donavan said.
Any members of the public that need help can contact Dungarvan Garda Station on (058) 48600
'Significant challenge'
Dr Mary Favier, Covid lead for the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) and a member of Nphet, has said that the “rejigging” of the vaccine roll out was going to be “a significant challenge”.
“Our hearts sank yesterday,” she said when GPs heard about restrictions of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, but it was not unexpected as it was so similar to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Dr Favier told of how many GPs had been receiving calls from patients who wanted to take the AstraZeneca vaccine and were prepared “to sign on the line”.
The cautious approach adopted by National Immunisation Advisory Committee (Niac) had served the country well to date, she said. In the meantime GPs would focus on vaccinating high risk groups and there was a silver lining that those aged 60 to 69 could now be vaccinated sooner with AstraZeneca.
Minister for Agriculture Charlie McCanalogue has said that it was expected that in the “next couple of days” there would be an outline of the revised profile of the vaccine rollout.
The Government will do “all within our power to ensure vaccinations are distributed as soon as possible”, he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland. Everyone was aware of the importance of the rollout and the importance that it continue as efficiently as possible.
