FOLLOWING the announcement yesterday, Wednesday, December 30 of the approval of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, the Department of Health has said roll-out will begin here on Monday.

The approval by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency paves the way for a significant acceleration of NI’s vaccination programme.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health told this newspaper: “The approval of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine means Northern Ireland GPs can begin the first phase of population vaccination from January 4, starting with those aged 80 years and over.

“The programme will then be rolled out based on age and other clinical vulnerability factors. Prioritisation will be guided by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.

“The rate of progress will depend on the availability of the vaccine, in terms of both manufacture and supply.”

However, Minister Swann also warned that the coming weeks will be among the most challenging yet in the pandemic, with our health service under immense pressure.

He said: “Today’s [Wednesday] announcement is extremely welcome news and helps us look forward to the new year with optimism and hope.

“The vaccine programme will transform the situation, but that will take time. Between now and then, we need another big push to get through these next few months.

“We can all play our part in supporting the health service and in protecting each other from Covid-19,” said Minister Swann.

The Department of Health has also said that the reason some frontline staff in Fermanagh couldn’t get the Pfizer vaccine as scheduled recently was not due to shortages, but was “necessary to avoid waste”.

A Department spokeswoman told The Impartial Reporter that the Pfizer vaccine supply is limited and each Trust is given an allocation based on the priority groups to be vaccinated.

“In the first phase, this has been care home residents and staff as the first priority. Trusts have recently moved onto a staff vaccination programme for frontline staff as the second priority.

“As the vaccine comes in packs of 975 doses, which have to be used within five days of being defrosted, the Trust has had to plan carefully how it books staff in to get the vaccine, as it could not start on another pack if it could not be used within the time limit.

“As the Trust had only planned to vaccinate up until December 23, it could not have started another pack until the beginning of this week [December 28], so it is necessary to avoid waste of a precious resource,” the spokeswoman said.

She confirmed that two pre-booked appointments were unable to be facilitated in Enniskillen over the past week and that a small number of staff on standby, to avoid vaccine waste, may not all have been able to get the vaccine.

The Western Trust has now received its allocation of the vaccine which should cover all its care home residents and staff, and the majority of its health and social care staff, the Department spokeswoman told this newspaper.

“The Trust vaccination centres for staff are operating from this week over the next few weeks so that prioritised staff will get it during that time,” said the Department spokeswoman.

A spokeswoman for the Trust explained that they are using the three vaccination centres in the west on a rotating basis.

Figures released this week show that so far, in the Western Trust, 1,287 residents, 1,300 care home staff and 2,231 HSC staff have all received vaccinations and 57 care homes have been vaccinated.