An expert in Immunology has warned that the one dose Janssen Covid-19 vaccine provides ‘practically no immunity’ against the Omicron variant.
DCU Professor of Immunology Christine Loscher said people aged 16 to 25 who received Janssen should be prioritised for walk-in boosters as they are high risk.
Speaking to Independent.ie Prof Loscher said protection against Covid for those who received the one shot jab could be now as little as 10 to 15 per cent.
She said data has shown that people who took the Janssen vaccine now have “practically no immunity”.
“We were calling a few weeks ago to say that this was a group that were almost going to look like a group that were unvaccinated, particularly against this new variant.
“They probably have as low as 10-15pc protection left. Their immunity wanes a lot faster than the other vaccines and went a lot lower than the rest of them.”
Prof Loscher said those who availed of the Janssen vaccine couldn’t have known that immunity would wain so quickly and said they should now be at least let into walk-in centres.
She said: “We couldn’t have known that their immunity would wain so fast, and in light of the fact that Omicron is dominant and highly transmissible, they practically have no immunity against Omicron, and I think for that reason they should be at least allowed go to walk-ins (vaccination centres).”
As things stand, people aged 16 to 34 years can only avail of a booster jab if their GP has prioritised them.
The news comes after the Department of Health reported a further 5,279 cases on Tuesday, with 443 people now in hospital, 102 of whom are in ICU.
Tanaiste Leo Varadkar said the number of cases would likely continue to rise in the coming days as the country struggles to stem the spread of the Omicron variant.
He said: "In terms of giving an assessment of where we stand, we're certainly seeing the number of daily cases rising again, the numbers that come to the lab as opposed to the Department of Health figures, which sometimes include a backlog or a shortfall.”
He added: "The numbers coming through the labs today is well over 5,000, and it's rarely over 5,000, so we're certainly seeing an increase in the incidence of the virus.”
