Everyone in Ireland aged 16 and over will be offered a Covid-19 booster jab, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has confirmed.
The National Immunisation Advisory Committee has given the green light to provide a third dose of Covid vaccines to all citizens aged over 16 in the coming months.
The rollout will start with pregnant women and then begin to move down via age cohorts.
The exact timeline for when the newly approved age groups will receive their booster jab has not been announced.
Those who received the Janssen jab will be eligible three months after they were inoculated, while others can nab their booster after five months.
However, anyone who has had Covid-19 since being vaccinated should wait at least six months after their positive test to get a booster shot.
Minister Donnelly said in a statement: “I welcome NIACs continuous review of all international evidence relating to booster doses. I am accepting and authorising these latest recommendations on the basis that a significant amount of planning will be required to operationalise these booster doses. No-one in these newly approved age cohorts has yet reached the recommended gap since the second dose.
“We continue to prioritise boosters because we know that they are having a positive impact on the level of hospitalisation, severe illness and mortality from COVID-19 in those aged over 70. I am also accelerating the booster rollout to those with underlying conditions and those in their 60s.”
The booster rollout is already in full swing for those aged over 60, residents in long-term care facilities, healthcare workers and people who are immunocompromised.
Latest statistics show that 85% of over 80s have already received a third-round vaccine up to November 24.
As for those aged 70 to 79, data shows that 60% have already received their booster shot and the current forecast is for that group to be complete by the beginning of December
Anyone in the 60 to 69 age group should be invited for a booster vaccine by the end of December and those in the 50 to 59 cohort should be offered their dose this side of Christmas, however, many will likely flood over into January 2022.
People eligible for the booster shot will either be contacted by their GP or by text from the HSE, with priority given to those at highest risk of Covid, before progressing to the younger age cohorts.
Anyone aged 70 or over will be invited for a vaccine by their GP - with some being referred to a vaccination centre.
Others aged 50 to 69 or a healthcare worker will get a text message from the HSE with a vaccination centre appointment.
Yesterday, the HSE announced that walk-in booster clinics for healthcare workers and people aged 60 to 69 have been opened. People eligible in these groups can get the jab at one of the dedicated walk-in clinics without an appointment but they must attend within the time slots for walk-ins.
Who is now eligible for a Covid booster vaccination?
- pregnant women aged 16 years and older
- those aged 40 - 49 years
- those aged 16 - 39 years, in descending order by age e.g., by 10-year age cohorts.
Previously eligible for a Covid booster vaccination:
- those aged over 60 in the community
those aged over 50 in the community
- residents in long-term care facilities
- immunocompromised
- healthcare workers
- those aged 16-59 with underlying conditions
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