Vaccination programme gets two welcome boosts in 24 hours

The J&J vaccine rollout will continue in the US. Picture: Phil Long/AP

As Irish officials continue to deliberate on the use of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine here, the US has said it is going to start administering the jab once again.

The National Immunisation Advisory Committee will take the US backing, following on from that of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) into consideration when it decides on the J&J rollout in Ireland. 

If the J&J vaccine is cleared to be administered here once more it will greatly accelerate the vaccine programme. 

That programme was given a boost last night with news that the State is to receive a large delivery of 165,000 AstraZeneca vaccines next week which had initially been postponed until May. 

The HSE has said it will begin administering the J&J shots next week if cleared and that it will have 40,000 doses by then.

The US decision to resume distribution of the J&J vaccine after an 11-day pause was despite fears of the potential for extremely rare blood clots.

If the J&J vaccine is cleared to be administered here once more it will greatly accelerate the vaccine programme. 

The Food and Drug Administration and Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) decided that the one-shot vaccine is critical to fight the pandemic – and that the small clot risk could be handled with warnings to help younger women decide if they should use that shot or an alternative.

It is also seen as critical here for the Government to reach its target of vaccinating 82% of the eligible adult population by June.

Professor of Experimental Immunology at Trinity College Dublin, Kingston Mills has said the risks posed by the vaccine is very low.

"The numbers of the clotting events with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is pretty small," said Professor Mills, "I think its eight cases in 7m doses of vaccine in the US. That is very small.

"What is not a surprise is that the EMA said we should restart using it and I expect the authorities here to follow suit."

Meanwhile, yesterday was one of the biggest days for the vaccine rollout in Ireland according to the Taoiseach Micheál Martin.

Mr Martin said 41,500 doses of the vaccine were administered and that "vaccines, vaccinations and volunteers are making a real difference".

A quarter of adults have now had their first dose - and one in ten have received both jabs.

This weekend there will be GP vaccination clinics in Cork and Galway delivering second dose vaccinations to over-75s and the HSE will also be administering jabs to housebound patients over-70.