The Taoiseach’s to meet the HSE and the vaccine task force this morning to discuss altering the country’s Covid-19 vaccine programme.
The roll-out of injections has been hit with a delay to the Johnson and Johnson vaccine and changes to the use of AstraZeneca.
Johnson and Johnson is to pause deliveries of its single-shot vaccine to Europe pending an investigation of rare blood clot cases in the US.
The majority of AstraZeneca clinics have been cancelled for the rest of the week following NIAC’s decision to restrict its use to people over 60.
Chair of the Irish Medical Organisation’s GP committee, Dr Denis McCauley, doesn’t believe the Johnson and Johnson delay will have much impact on the programme.
Meanwhile, a University of Oxford study looking into mixing and matching Covid-19 vaccines will now include two additional injections.
The trial, which launched with the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines in the UK in February, will also look at the Moderna and Novavax vaccines.
People taking part get one injection followed by a different one a few weeks later to see if it affects the immune response.
Latest Figures
48 people with Covid-19 were in ICU overnight, the first time the number has fallen below 50 in 2021.
Overall in public hospitals, there were 189 patients with the disease, which is its lowest level since mid-December. Two people at St Luke’s General Hospital for Carlow and Kilkenny are suspected of having the virus.
It comes as 18 further related deaths were announced with 358 new cases, five in Carlow with up to four more in Kilkenny.
The five-day moving average of cases now stands at 396, down 14% from last week.
Quarantine
The Health Minister is being accused of mismanaging the country’s mandatory hotel quarantine system.
It follows the announcement the booking system has been ‘paused’ as there aren’t enough available rooms to meet demand.
59 countries are currently on the hotel quarantine list, and a further 16 are to be added from tomorrow morning.
Minister Stephen Donnelly has suggested walk-ins are contributing to the capacity issue and says there will be more beds from Monday.
Co-leader of the Social Democrats, Catherine Murphy, says the capacity problem should have been dealt with long before this point.
Exercise
People who are “consistently inactive” are at greater risk of Covid-19.
A study’s found those who did less than 10 minutes of exercise a week were more likely to be admitted to the hospital, or require intensive care treatment.
Researchers say only older people and those who’ve had an organ transplant were more at risk of death.
Meanwhile, it’s claimed wearing a cloth face covering during exercise limits performance.
A study’s found masked joggers were more breathless and claustrophobic when running at high intensity.
Researchers suggest altering the pace and power at which you work out when wearing a face covering.
