MORE THAN 100,000 people in the State are estimated to have contracted the swine flu virus at this stage, according to the Department of Health’s chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan. At this point, he said, it is estimated that about 2.5 per cent of the population have been infected.
“The assumption which we have used to inform our planning is that the first wave could lead to infection of 25 per cent of the population.
“While this figure may not turn out to be this high, there will certainly be further increases in hospitalisations and deaths in the coming weeks and months,” he added.
There have been 10 deaths from swine flu in the Republic so far.
As the Health Service Executive begins the first phase of its swine flu vaccination campaign today by offering the H1N1 vaccine to between 400,000 and 500,000 patients in at-risk groups, Dr Holohan urged people not to be complacent about swine flu. “This is now a national public health emergency,” he said.
While most people have had a mild infection, he said, significant complications can and do arise among people who are otherwise healthy.
“The experience in Ireland so far has shown that more than half the almost 500 people who have required admission to hospital do not have an underlying illness,” he writes in the opinion page of today’s Irish Times. He added that while some may be concerned about taking a new vaccine, the overwhelming medical and scientific advice, both national and international, is that the benefits far outweigh any risks.
The HSE said that the vaccine will be available through 2,300 GPs and at 45 special HSE clinics in areas where GPs are not participating in the vaccination campaign. Patients should call their GP or one of these special HSE clinics for an appointment.
Advertisements listing the locations and opening hours of the clinics have been placed in today’s newspapers and are also on www.swineflu.ie
Meanwhile, a Dublin GP Dr Mel Bates, who is also a spokesman for the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), has questioned the HSE suggestion that 2,300 GPs have signed up to administer the vaccine.
He said the ICGP would see 2,300 as the number of working GPs in the country but not all of them have signed up to give the vaccine because of concerns over indemnity and other issues. “There are parts of the country, towns in the country, where none of the GPs are participating,” he told yesterday’s This Week programme on RTÉ Radio. “I believe it is wrong for the HSE . . . to suggest that 2,300 GPs will be actively vaccinating on Monday morning,” he added.
Dr Pat Doorley, national director of population health with the HSE, said that more than 1,800 GP surgeries had signed up to administer the vaccine.
“We estimate that’s about 2,300 GPs who are participating,” he said.
