Covid vaccine uptake varies widely in State between Irish and eastern European workers, CSO finds

Just under half of eastern Europeans employed in Ireland are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, considerably lower than the proportion of Irish employees, new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show.

The figures for Irish employees showed 92 per cent had received their primary course, while 91 per cent had received a booster by December 31st.

The figures show employees from the 13 countries who joined the EU since 2004 – which include nationalities with large communities in Ireland, such as Polish, Latvian, Lithuanian and Romanian – had booster rates of 22 per cent.

Around 71 per cent of Irish employees had received booster one, with 20 per cent receiving further boosters.

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On Wednesday, the CSO published its latest bulletin on vaccination statistics, which found significant variation in the uptake rates around the country, particularly among children.

As of December 31st 2022, only 4 per cent of five to 11-year-olds in Buncrana and Carndonagh in Donegal had received their primary course of the vaccine. This was considerably lower than the 55 per cent of that age group in Stillorgan, Dublin, who had been fully vaccinated.

This difference has remained steady in recent months, the CSO said.

The uptake of the second booster ranged from 9 per cent in Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart, to a high of 37 per cent in Rathfarnham-Templeogue.

However the statisticians said it is important to note that booster two was only offered to certain groups of people at this time.

Since the start of the year, eligibility for a second booster dose has now been extended to all those aged 18 years or older.

Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart also had the lowest uptake rate for booster three at 2 per cent, compared to 14 per cent in Rathfarnham-Templeogue, though the jab was only offered to certain groups.

The CSO also completed analysis of vaccine uptake based on employment. About five in six of all employees, or 85 per cent, had completed their primary course of vaccinations, the body found.

The human health and social work; and public administration and defence sectors had the highest percentage of employees who had completed their primary course of vaccinations at 99 per cent respectively.

Almost all employees (97 per cent) in the education sector had received a booster, with 73 per cent having received booster one and 24 per cent having received further boosters.

Steven Conroy, a statistician with the CSO, highlighted the different uptake rates among employees from different countries.

“An analysis by nationality shows that just under half (46 per cent) of employees from the 13 countries who joined the EU since 2004 (EU15-27) had completed their primary course of vaccines, compared with 92 per cent of Irish employees,” he said.

“Eight in ten (80 per cent) UK employees had received a booster, 60 per cent had received Booster 1 and 20 per cent had further boosters. More than two in ten (22 per cent) EU15-27 employees had received a booster.”