AstraZeneca jabs decision a major hit to vaccine rollout

Thousands of AstraZeneca vaccinations scheduled for today have been cancelled after advice from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee. Picture: Yui Mok/PA Wire

The national vaccination rollout programme faces further significant delays following recommendations that the AstraZeneca vaccine should not be administered to the under-60s.

Thousands of vaccinations scheduled for today have been cancelled after the advice from National Immunisation Advisory Committee (Niac), creating a major administration headache for the HSE.

Niac said the AstraZeneca vaccine should be limited to those aged 60 and older. The expert group recommended restrictions after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) warned that rare blood clots have been linked with the jab.

A spokesperson for Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said last night that he accepted the Niac recommendations and the matter did not need to be escalated to Cabinet.

The AstraZeneca vaccine was to play a key part in the national rollout, with 813,000 doses expected by the end of June. Since the start of February, 233,710 AstraZeneca shots were given, with a 12-week lag to the second dose.

New advice

• AstraZeneca is “not recommended for those aged under 60 years, including those with medical conditions with very high or high risk of severe Covid-19 disease"; 
• Anyone who developed unusual blood clots with low platelets after their first dose should not get a second;
• Those aged 60 and older should receive their second dose 12 weeks later as scheduled; 
• Those under 60 with a high-risk medical condition should receive their second dose 12 weeks later as scheduled; 
• Those under 60 without a high-risk medical condition should have the scheduled interval between doses extended to 16 weeks.

Vaccinations for the over-70s will not change as this group only receives the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna jabs.

Prof Karina Butler told a press briefing at the Department of Health that rare blood clotting is estimated to occur in between four and 10 in every million people, one of whom may die.

"However, as so few events have been reported, there is a high level of uncertainty regarding the incidence of this extremely rare adverse event in any particular age group, or gender.

"Although most cases occurred in women under 60 years of age. This may be because of the higher rates of vaccination and healthcare workers who are predominantly female," she said.

Other countries have also changed their advice in recent days including Canada, France, and Germany.

Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said the risk of death from Covid is greater than any risk from the vaccine.

He said the change does not necessarily mean there will be a delay to the vaccination programme.

"It will likely have an impact; the extent of that impact, though, remains to be seen. 

"It's not necessarily the case that this will have a material impact or delay on the rollout of the programme at a population level."

However, the chair of the Irish Medical Organisation’s GP committee said this “huge decision” by Niac will immediately impact the vaccine rollout.

Dr Denis McCauley said: “We are going to have to get other vaccines to replace them, notwithstanding who is going to get it and where will they get it. 

We are going to have to war-game that.” 

The HSE said it had written to hospital groups and community healthcare organisations advising them that all AstraZeneca clinics planned for today "should be cancelled in light of updated guidance received from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee, and the Department of Health".

"Anybody due to attend an AstraZeneca clinic is therefore advised not to do so," the HSE said.

A spokesman for AstraZeneca said they will work with Niac on any changes needed.

Meanwhile, elite athletes could receive an exemption from mandatory hotel quarantine.

Sports travel

Talks are ongoing between the Department of Sport and the Department of Health to put in place a regulatory framework to "facilitate selected and limited international sports travel to/from Category 2 countries".

Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris is currently working on plans which would see the Government pay for the mandatory hotel quarantine stay for Erasmus students.

Currently, five EU member states are on the list and there had been concerns that some of the around 500 students affected would not be able to return home due to cost.

The talks are currently at an advanced level and are due to be announced later this week. It's understood the cost to the Government could be around €1m.