Ireland's vaccine rollout has been thrown into further turmoil after the United States paused the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The major decision came after six people who received the single-shot vaccine developed a rare disorder involving blood clots.
Johnson & Johnson's delay to the roll-out of its vaccine in Europe comes just a day after the AstraZeneca vaccine was restricted to over-60s
The National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) has recommended that the AstraZeneca jab should only be given to people aged over 60 after Europe’s health watchdog the EMA last week found a link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and rare blood clotting issues in adults, particularly younger people.
The complications have meant that the HSE has had to frantically reschedule their plans to administer vaccines and during the most recent episode of Prime Time, the vaccine issue was discussed in detail.
"Last week I was saying that the HSC need to hit certain numbers to meet the June aims of 82% of us having one dose and 55% of was being fully vaccinated, that's not changed," said Mark Coughlan.
"Overall what they need to do is administer 3.5 million doses over the three months of April, May and June. After our programme last week you might recall, the Minister for Health, he confirmed that 3.9 million doses are expected to be delivered in those three months so on a simple level, that meant there's a 400,000 dose, you could call it a cushion, between what's needed to meet the targets, and what's due to be delivered," he added.
Given the recent turmoil and ever-changing number in terms of what Ireland's vaccine potential, Coughlan made the issue as clear as possible on Prime Time.
"As far as can be worked out, even after the AstraZeneca decision with the cushion there, it appears that with some serious rejigging on behalf on the part of the HSE - maybe moving around dose intervals - the June target still remains on pure numbers viable. You could it seems, take away the AstraZeneca from the under 60s and still hit the targets, that's where it stood until the news from the US emerged about the Johnson and Johnson vaccine and then the news emerged from Johnson and Johnson about Europe."
He adds: "This is the one-dose vaccine, and in terms of design, it's sort of similar to the AstraZeneca one. 7 million Johnson and Johnson vaccines have been administered in the US, but there have been six reports of unusual clots in women under the age of 50, that's still extremely rare but enough to cause a pause in the rollout and for the US to wait and assess things further.
"That decision to pause was made by the US authorities and then Johnson and Johnson decided to postpone their own rollout in Europe. A rollout of Johnson and Johnson here was due to begin over the next week, one in four adults who are due to be fully vaccinated between now and the end of June, were did you get a Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Make no mistake about it, Johnson and Johnson coming on time is key to the rollout but the question now becomes, how long will the rollout of Johnson and Johnson be on pause, and will it impact on a big way here?"
Elsewhere, Immunologist Prof Liam Fanning, Prof Cliona O’Farrelly, Prof in Population Health Noel McCarthy and from Monaghan, and GP Illona Duffy were on the show and following the segment, RTE viewers had plenty to say.
"I’ll take any vaccine anytime it’s offered to me. Risk Is part of all medication, rarely has been so much of a spotlight on any medication as these vaccines. Would rather take my chances with a vaccine than covid" was the opinion of one viewer.
"If there is one overwhelming feature of recent months it’s a feeling that, from vaccines to MHQ, the people in charge seem utterly taken aback when predictable scenarios actually happen" was the opinion of one viewer that was critical of the government's approach and they added: "On the subject of lack of planning and foresight, how was there not a scenario plan for the AZ vaccine that could have been announced immediately today? Everyone knew an announcement of some sort was coming. There were a very limited number of scenarios."
Meanwhile, another viewer remarked: "People should be told, 'this vaccine is approved. If you don't want it, you go to the back of the queue.'"
Government ministers are set to meet this morning to discuss the vaccine setbacks and prepare Ireland for the weeks ahead.
