Pregnant women are to be offered faster access to Covid vaccines after Cabinet accepted advice from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee today.
The move will see pregnant women offered an mRNA vaccine between 14 and 36 weeks gestation, and only after consulting with their doctor.
Protocols will be worked out on how the vaccination recommendation for pregnant women will operate.
NIAC also recommended that the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines be made available to people aged 50 and older.
Up until now, the AstraZeneca vaccine was limited to those over 60.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said that all vaccines can now be used for people over 50 years.
He said: “If Cabinet accepts it, really it’s full steam ahead. Obviously we want to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as we can.”
Speaking earlier, he said if Cabinet approved the recommendations “all the vaccines will be available for the cohorts we’re doing right now, 60 and above".
He said this move could see people aged 50 to 59 get the jab “as quickly as possible".
“What NIAC are doing is they’re assessing the information as it becomes available here and around the world, and it may well be the case, we don’t know, but it may well be the case that they will make further recommendations on widening the availability of some or all of these vaccines," continued.
“But for now, it is good news, it means we can keep going with the vaccine programme."
Mr Donnelly also said that NPHET will meet today to discuss the easing of restrictions.
The easing of restrictions on the vaccines may help speed up the national vaccination programme by giving the HSE more options on which treatments to use.
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