The HSE is to deploy 12 mobile Covid-19 vaccination units around the country this winter to help administer booster jabs.
The first of the units has been delivered to the Cork/Kerry Community Healthcare team in West Cork where it will initially be used to help get vaccines to residents of nursing homes.
Cora Hayes, the vaccination lead at the West Cork vaccination center, said the team in Bantry is delighted to be able to make the vaccination as accessible as possible for key target groups over the coming months.
“Our Cork Kerry Community Healthcare West Cork vaccination team has completed close to 75,000 vaccinations since the start of the Covid-19 vaccination program,” she said.
“Most of these were completed through the vaccination centers in Clonakilty and Bantry but 1,250 were completed during visits to homes, to residential care facilities, to an island clinic, to international protection accommodation service and to workplaces.
“We are delighted to now have a mobile vaccination unit in West Cork which will allow us to offer a more flexible service and improve accessibility for the people of the region.”
The vehicle will initially be used to add capacity to the vaccination program in residential care facilities, such as nursing homes, making it easier and faster for healthcare workers to get vital vaccines this winter.
But it will also help provide flu vaccinations for healthcare workers in the region, with clinics planned in several towns across the region soon. The mobile units will be operated in different ways, including on a pop-up basis, in self-scheduled clinics, or at a pre-arranged venue.
The HSE thanked the Scottish Ambulance Service for its help in establishing this mobile model of vaccine distribution in Ireland.
Meanwhile, face masks continue to be recommended for public transport and in healthcare settings, the government’s latest Covid-19 emergency response plan states. It also says consideration is to be given to re-introducing masks in other settings depending on the levels of infection.
Ventilation is focused on as an important way to fight infection, especially in shared spaces such as classrooms, gyms and public bathrooms.
Planning, led by chief medical officer, Professor Breda Smyth, will “highlight the continued importance of ventilation and air filtration as a key element of the broader public health advice”.
The emergency plan allows for the re-activation of widespread contact tracing, as well as increased access to PCR and antigen testing. This could include sending out up to 300,000 antigen tests per week for six weeks.
Communication campaigns are planned around booster vaccines, with less than 70% of over-65s getting a second booster compared to 99% who had the first booster. Advice from the Covid-19 Advisory Group, which includes University College Cork’s Dr Anne Moore and Professor John Wenger, fed into the report.
The public can continue to make their appointments for Covid-19 boosters or initial vaccination online at www.hse.ie or by ringing HSELive on 1800 700 700.
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