Over 40% of people in ICU with Covid are under the age 50, CMO says
Community swabber Aly Murray carrying out a Covid test at the first no appointment rural walk in/ drive in testing center for Covid-19 at the Randal Og GAA Club, Dunmanway, West Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan
Of the 54 people being treated in intensive with Covid-19, 43% are under 50, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) has said.
"This is a stark reminder to all of us to continue to adhere to the public health guidance and to ensure to receive both doses of Covid-19 vaccine as soon as it is offered," Dr Tony Holohan said in a statement this evening.
The CMO said the incidence of disease is increasing across all age groups, but that for every fully vaccinated confirmed Covid case, vaccines were preventing about four other cases.
Meanwhile, a further 1,861 Covid cases were confirmed this evening by officals at the department of health.
At present, 249 patients with Covid-19 are being treated in hospitals.
The Department of Health has also confirmed that the number of Covid-related deaths reported in Ireland since the pandemic began is now 5,074.
"In the main, we have seen very high vaccination figures in our population, particularly in the over 60s cohort who were offered their vaccines first," Dr Holohan said.
"Covid-19 vaccines are ensuring that those who are fully vaccinated are protected from the severe illness and poor outcomes related to this disease.
"We have shown time and time again in this country that we can break the chains of transmission of Covid-19 and continue to protect ourselves and our loved ones by supporting one another to adhere to the public health advice."
The CMO urged anyone displaying symptoms of Covid-19 - like cough, fever, headache, sore throat, and blocked or runny nose - to isolate and get a test immediately.
"Continue to socialise safely by risk assessing, meeting outdoors where possible.
"Only meet up with small numbers of people and avoid crowds. Remember, it is okay to leave if you do not feel safe," he added.
New vaccine doses have arrived in the largest delivery yet for the vaccine program as 83% of the adult population are now reported to be fully vaccinated.
The biggest weekly delivery of Covid vaccines includes the first tranche of Pfizer vaccines sourced from Romania and numbers over 540,000 doses according to the HSE Chief, Paul Reid.
Today we received our biggest weekly delivery of vaccines to this country of over 540,000 doses. This was hugely boosted by the first tranche of a total of 700,000 Romanian reallocated vaccines. It's key that we get to the smaller percentages of people now unvaccinated @HSELive pic.twitter.com/XCd3WczE7c
— Paul Reid (@paulreiddublin) August 18, 2021
Mr Reid said the delivery would be important for vaccinating the small remaining proportion of the population yet to receive a dose.
"It's key that we get to the smaller percentages of people now unvaccinated," he tweeted.
The latest delivery comes as the HSE chief executive praised the progress of the vaccine rollout program.
It follows confirmation from Brian MacCraith, chair of the High-Level Task Force on Covid-19 vaccination, that 6.46 million vaccine doses have been administered to date.
Mr MacCraith said 82.8% of adults are fully vaccinated, while 90% have received at least a single dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
Some 75% of the population aged over 12 are fully vaccinated.
The HSE CEO said "continued great progress" had been made vaccinating the 12-15 age cohort since registration opened for parents last week.
Almost 100,000 children in this age bracket had been registered and 47,000 vaccines administered, he said.
It comes as the latest figures from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) show that 111 people contracted Covid-19 in a healthcare setting in the last 14 days – 0.5% of the total cases recorded.
Almost half of the 23,487 cases recorded over the two-week period – 11,179 – were caused by a close contact with a confirmed case, while 7,404 cases were attributed to community transmission.
The government's decision to buy the 700,000 Pfizer vaccine doses from Romania was first reported in July as the country had decided to stop importing vaccines due to slow uptake amongst its citizens.
This was later finalised at the start of August and confirmed by the Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
The Government had hoped to buy a million doses, including 700,000 Pfizer/BioNTech and 300,000 Moderna vaccines.
Both are mRNA vaccines and are approved for use in under-18s by the European Medicines Agency.
The mRNA vaccine uses tiny fragments of the virus’s genetic code to teach the body how to make a protein that will trigger an immune response.
The vaccine is now set to be the main supply source for the country's vaccine programme as the HSE has decided to stop placing orders for Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines.
Deliveries of AstraZeneca vaccines were plagued by supply constraints and contributed to great frustration among health officials.
Romania has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the EU, and there had been fears vaccines would spoil by the end of this month if not used or sold on.
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