Vaccination delays causing anxiety for 60s cohort

Complaints from the Dunboyne, Dunshaughlin and Ashbourne areas over delays in the vaccination of people in their 60s has been met with assurances that while there are slight variations in different centres, vaccinations are still being delivered as per the roll out plan.

Cllr Damien O'Reilly wrote to the Minister for Health pointing out that residents, as old as 69 had not received any notification for vaccination despite registering on time for their respective cohorts.

"This is beyond belief, when those who are called to The Helix, are meeting people 15 years their junior who are residents of Dublin."

A spokesperson for the HSE Midlands Louth Meath said there may be slight variations between different vaccination centres in terms of the age year that they have reached and are scheduling appointments for.

"The Midlands Louth Meath CHO integrated vaccination steering group is following the national guidelines and sequencing process as set out by the provisional vaccine allocation groups.

"Currently the vaccination centres in the midlands are vaccinating people registered aged from 55 to 59, and will then go to 50 to 55, and the vaccination centres in Louth and Meath are completing those aged 60-69, and expect to start vaccinating those aged 55 -59 this week, while also vaccinating some cohort fours which are identified by their hospital team and healthcare workers.

Meanwhile a Central Vaccination Centre opens in Drogheda Institute of Further Education (DIFE) this week.

"We would like to thank people for registering for their Covid-19 vaccinations. The HSE is continuing to administer the COVID-19 vaccine in line with supply and appreciates the patience and co-operation of the public as we roll out the vaccine programme."

The spokesperson said people will receive their appointment details by text, three to seven days before their vaccination appointment. "However, if appointments become available earlier, then some texts could issue in a shorter timeframe. We are continuously working to reduce the wait times for individuals.

"People should bring their appointment information to the vaccination centre. This will be on their mobile phone or in a letter. You will also need to bring your photo ID.

"If a member of the public has registered on the portal or has queries regarding the vaccination prioritization schedule, they should contact the Covid-19 helpline for advice LoCall 1850 24 1850 or log on to www2.hse.ie.

Meanwhile, 360 additional cases of Covid-19 were confirmed last night by the National Public Health Emergency Team who pointed out this number of cases may change due to future data validation.

There were 110 Covid-19 patients in hospital yesterday, of which 42 are in ICU.

As of last Tuesday (11th May) there have been 1,922,913 doses of Covid-19 vaccine administered in Ireland: 1,408,105 people have received their first dose and 514,808 people have received their second dose.

The incident rate in the Ashbourne electoral area has soared over the past week.

In the two weeks up to Monday of last week, Ashbourne had the highest incidence rate of the virus in Meath at 202.9 per 100,000 of population and 59 new cases. This was up from 151.3 per 100k the previous week.

This compared with the national incidence rate of 128.1 per 100k.

Laytown/Bettystown had 63 new cases in the same period and a rate of 184.6, while Trim had 47 cases and a rate of 150.7.

The incidence rate had fallen in Navan from 234.7 the previous week to 143.1 last week and there were 50 new cases.

There were 29 new cases in Ratoath where the rate was 87 and Kells had the lowest rate at 58.6 and had 19 new cases.