by Bernie English
BOOSTER Covid vaccines for health care workers are being rolled out across the Mid West this week.
UL Hospitals Group vaccination teams are also stepping up the immunisation effort as they begin delivering booster vaccines to fully vaccinated people in the 60 to 69 age group. They will be notified by text message about their booster appointments.
The first clinics for this cohort have already gone ahead at the Vaccination Centres in Limerick, Ennis and Nenagh.
The National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) has recommended a minimum time period of six months to have elapsed since the date of the second vaccination before the booster dose is offered.
Booster dose appointments, scheduled from the vaccination register, will be offered first to older people with the earliest second vaccination dates.
Also this week, the UL Hospitals Group vaccination team is preparing to offer booster vaccine doses to healthcare workers across the region.
This is part of the national campaign to deliver booster doses to approximately 300,000 people across the State, aged under 60 years, who are identified as healthcare workers on the Covax online vaccination portal.
Healthcare workers in the Mid West will be issued a scheduled appointment to receive a booster vaccine dose at one of the region’s three vaccination centres.
“It’s very welcome that the vaccine booster programme for healthcare workers will be finalised in the coming days,” said UL Hospitals Group Chief Operations Officer, Noreen Spillane.
“Vaccination has been a hugely positive contributor to our ability to deliver safe healthcare. Especially now, when high transmission of Covid presents a greater risk to healthcare workers and patients, there is great anticipation for the booster programme among our staff.”
Ms Spillane added: “I also encourage all healthcare workers in the Mid West to get a flu vaccine, at the staff flu vaccine clinics currently running at the Mid West Vaccination Centres. Getting a flu vaccine helps to minimise risks to colleagues, patients and their loved ones this winter, as well as contributing towards the UNICEF campaign to immunise children in the developing world against polio.”
