CHILDREN UNDER five years and those aged 65 and over are to be offered the swine flu vaccine later this month and early next month, the HSE confirmed yesterday. They will be offered the vaccine at special HSE clinics across the State, not at GP surgeries.
The HSE, which, along with many GPs, is now vaccinating at-risk groups aged six months to 65 years as well as pregnant women, will begin writing to parents of children aged from six months to under five years this week to inform them of the development.
The letters will tell parents when to bring their child to a HSE clinic for their vaccine. Some will be given actual appointments, others will be told to book an appointment online or by telephone at their nearest HSE swine vaccination clinic.
“Parents of children in this group will begin to receive letters starting this week and throughout November and early December,” the HSE said.
“People aged 65 and over will begin to be invited over the coming fortnight.”
Those aged over 65 were not included in the initial phase of swine flu vaccinations as they are believed to have some immunity to the H1N1 virus. Most of those hospitalised with the virus to date have been younger people.
Dr Brenda Corcoran of the HSE national immunisation office said after the under-fives and over-65s are vaccinated, the HSE will then move on to vaccinate older children in schools.
In relation to the under-fives and over-65s, she said: “We would ask people in these groups to be patient and to wait for their invitation to arrive. Everyone in these groups will be offered the vaccine throughout November and December.”
Letters will first go out to people in areas where there is capacity in existing HSE swine flu vaccination clinics.
Dr Kevin Kelleher, head of health protection with the HSE, said there were now about 600,000 doses of the swine flu vaccine in the State and more were arriving all the time. The first supplies were prioritised for the 400,000 or so at-risk patients aged six months to 65 years in the State. The next priority group is the 300,000 or so under-fives and then the 500,000 over-65s in the State.
He said the HSE would move into schools towards the end of November to vaccinate the 800,000-900,000 older children there.
Dr Kelleher said vaccines had also been distributed to hospitals, so at-risk patients could be vaccinated opportunistically. Healthcare workers in hospitals would also start getting the vaccine this week, he said.
Meanwhile, Dr Mary Horgan, consultant in infectious disease at Cork University Hospital, has warned that swine flu could mix with seasonal flu and create a new virus.
“If a person gets swine flu and seasonal flu together, the two viruses can reassort or get mixed up and we will get another novel virus which will require another vaccine. It’s too early to tell yet if this will happen because we’re not seeing much seasonal flu yet,” she said.
Dr Horgan stressed the need for people who usually get the annual seasonal flu vaccination to make sure they get their jab this year to avoid this situation arising.
Some 3 per cent of the population – about 138,000 people – had contracted swine flu by last week and 14 people had died from the virus. An update on current infection rates will be provided by the Department of Health on Thursday.