Q&A: I just got a Covid-19 vaccine. Now what?
What do you need to know about the Covid-19 vaccine programme to be rolled out in Ireland. File picture.
Britain is the first country in the world to roll out the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNtech, initially making the shot available at 50 hospitals.
A grandmother, originally from Northern Ireland, became the first person in the world to receive Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine as the National Health Service (NHS) embarks on a mass vaccination programme.
Margaret Keenan, 90, received the jab at 6.31am in Coventry, England, today, marking the start of a phased rollout of the vaccine to older people, NHS staff and care home workers.
The country’s NHS will give priority to vaccinating people over the age of 80, frontline healthcare workers and nursing home staff and residents.
In Ireland, nursing home residents will be first in line for Covid-19 vaccines under a plan approved by the Government today.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly brought a memo to Cabinet this morning laying out the country's Covid vaccine allocation strategy, which included details on what is being called the "sequencing" or the phases in which different sections of society receive doses of the vaccine.
The phases under the immunisation plan are as follows:
- Those over the age of 65 who are residents in long-term care facilities will be the first sequence;
- Front-line healthcare workers who are in direct contact with patients are in the second sequence;
- This will be followed by those over 70, beginning with those aged over 85;
- The sequences then work down in bands of five years.
The health minister has also announced that there "should be no barrier to people accessing a vaccine", and therefore the vaccine programme will be available free of charge to everyone in Ireland.
Here is what people getting the Pfizer and BioNtech vaccine should expect:
The vaccine, developed with new messenger RNA technology using a manufactured fragment of the coronavirus’ genetic code, is injected into the arm. The immunization is given in two doses, three weeks apart, and has been shown in trials to protect up to 95% of recipients from contracting Covid-19.
Pfizer has said side effects in trial volunteers were mostly mild to moderate and cleared up quickly.
The most severe side effects occurred after the second dose: fatigue in 3.8% of volunteers and headache in 2%. Older adults tended to report fewer and milder adverse events.
The vaccine prevented Covid-19 illness seven days after the second injection - which is about a month after the first shot.
Clinical trials so far have not been designed to determine if an immunized person can still spread the coronavirus to someone else. Some vaccines, such as hepatitis A, do provide such protection - known as sterilizing immunity - but others do not.
Covid-19 vaccine makers focused trials on determining whether the drug stopped people from getting ill.
It will also be several more months before it becomes clear how long the vaccination will protect someone from coronavirus infection.
“Until then, it is better to avoid the pub and other in-person gatherings with many people,” said Dr Anita Shet, infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Since there is no evidence that the immunization prevents transmission of the virus - and no vaccine is 100% effective - scientists call for continued vigilance, including mask-wearing, hand-washing and social distancing.
“As with all vaccines, it may work really great in certain patient subsets, but not as well in others ... Does that mean you are free to hop on a plane or have 30 people over at your house? Probably not,” said Dr Michelle Barron, senior medical director for infection prevention at Colorado’s UCHealth.
She said vaccination campaigns are unlikely to reach “a critical mass” until next spring or early summer.
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