State expects to get 3.9m Covid-19 vaccine doses in next three months

The Department of Health has said that it expected to receive 3.9 million Covid-19 vaccine doses in the next three months, in a significant increase of supply.

In figures to be published on Wednesday afternoon, the department has outlined its projected deliveries for the next three months, a period which is expected to see a dramatic increase in the number of vaccines administered.

The department said however that the numbers are contingent on suppliers fulfilling their commitments – something that has repeatedly not happened with the Astrazeneca vaccine.

Sources said that the Government’s pledge will remain to administer three million shots by the end of June, though if the programme accelerates as planned, there will be scope to administer significantly more doses.

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This month is expected to see the arrival of the first Janssen vaccines, which require only one dose. This will become a big part of the vaccine programme, with 600,000 doses expected by the end of June, including 432,000 in that month.

The 3.9 million doses are in addition to the almost one million received so far.

The Department of Health had said previously that it had taken delivery of more that 950,000 Pfizer doses by the end of week 12 this yaer – and another 112,000 AstraZeneca, 83,000 Pfizer and 40,000 Moderna vaccines arrived last week. In total, it has taken in well over a million doses, and will deliver its millionth shot this week.

Meanwhile, the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 has fallen to 220, with 58 of those in intensive care (ICU).

The Mater Hospital in Dublin has 27 Covid-19 cases, the highest number in the country, followed by Beaumont Hospital (24) and Tallaght Hospital (23).

The National Public Health Emergency Team reported 443 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday and nine further deaths of people with coronavirus, though only one of these occurred this month.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said that it will be June before vaccinations will be at a rate of 250,000 a week. The vaccination programme will be “ramped up” in April and May with vaccination centres doing “more and more of the heavy lifting.”

Speaking on RTÉ radio’s News at One, Mr Donnelly said that 19 of the planned 38 vaccination centres around the country were now open and that last week 130,000 vaccinations were carried out.

All parts of the health service including vaccination centres, GPs and pharmacies will be involved in the roll out, he added.

The Minister said that having enough vaccinators would not be an issue as there were between 500 and 600 people now in place with 800 to 900 cleared “and ready to go” at the vaccination centres.

So far good progress was being made, he said, recruitment was ongoing to ensure that enough people were being hired. “That does appear to be working quite well.”

Mr Donnelly said that 95 per cent of doses “are in the arms within seven days” and that if supplies arrive on time that four out of five people in the country who want the vaccine would have it.

When asked when a 40-year-old person could expect to be vaccinated, the Minister said “in June or July”. The specific time frame would be announced later this week.

Mr Donnelly also said that work on the mandatory hotel quarantine system was ongoing and he would like to see countries like France, Germany and the USA added to the list “quickly.”

“I think the need to go on that list. There is broad agreement across Government. This week they are looking at bigger countries.”

The Minister also warned that the figure of only one Covid case of transmission per 1,000 was transmitted outdoors had to be looked at carefully as it did not include transmission in dressing rooms etc.

Nphet produced a lot of information, he said, they looked at cluster profiles, outbreak types and he believed they would broadly be in agreement that outdoors was better than indoors.