Covid-19: HSE offering second booster vaccine to over-55s

People aged 55 years and older are being invited by the HSE to get their next Covid-19 booster. Appointments can be made online for one of the HSE’s vaccination clinics, it said on Thursday.

Women who are more than 16 weeks pregnant are also being invited to book a booster vaccine at a HSE vaccination centre or from participating GPs and pharmacies.

The HSE says it will shortly be inviting children aged five to 11 who are immunocompromised to receive their first booster.

People aged 50 to 54 will be offered their second booster vaccine from next week, and people with long-term heath conditions will also be offered boosters shortly, the HSE said.

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“Everyone aged over 55 and pregnant women should now get their next booster dose,” said HSE chief clinical officer Dr Colm Henry. “We know immunity tends to reduce after a period of months following your last vaccine so this booster will give ongoing protection from serious illness and increase immunity against infection from Covid-19.”

The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 has fallen to 300, down from 307 on Wednesday. Most are incidental cases who are in hospital for other reasons. The number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care increased to 20 on Thursday, from 17 the previous day.

There were 39 deaths of Covid-19 patients in the week up to Wednesday, compared with 43 the previous week.

Meanwhile, 35 Covid-19 outbreaks were confirmed last week, seven more than in the previous week, according to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre. Twelve occurred in the south of the country. There were 13 outbreaks in residential institutions, nine in nursing homes and five in hospitals.