Younger people may be offered the AstraZeneca vaccine in the coming weeks, according to the Tánaiste.

The vaccine is currently only recommended for people aged 50 and over in Ireland.

Speaking today however, Leo Varadkar said talks were ongoing to change the recommendation as the country may soon find itself with “hundreds of thousands” of excess doses.

AstraZeneca

“We do have excess AstraZeneca vaccines,” he said.

“We may over the course of the next couple of weeks have hundreds of thousands of excess AZ vaccines and it would be a shame not to use them so there is some engagement ongoing with the health authorities, with NIAC (National Immunisation Advisory Committee) now, as to whether we could offer those excess AstraZeneca vaccines, in June and July, to people in that younger cohort.”

He said the change would give younger people “at least some protection soon rather than having to wait for protection later.”

Delta

It comes amid increasing concern over the Delta variant, first identified in India, which now accounts for around 20% of cases reported in Ireland.

This afternoon, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) this afternoon warned that the variant will account for 90% of cases in the EU by the end of August.

In a new assessment, the ECDC noted that it is 40% to 60% more transmissible than the original COVID-19 virus.

It said full vaccination provides high protection against the variant and encouraged countries to vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as possible.

Vaccine

Data released by Public Health England (PHE) has found two doses of the Pfizer vaccine to be 88% effective against the Delta variant – down from over 95% for the original strain.

Meanwhile, two doses of AstraZeneca was found to be just over 60% effective – down from around 75% for the original.

Both remain extremely effective in preventing severe disease and hospitalisation.

In terms of deliveries, today represents the peak of the vaccine programme with ~370k doses arriving in Ireland:
Pfizer 317.1k
Janssen 14k
Moderna 38.4K

Between this week & next, the 3 largest deliveries of the programme will arrive:
Pfizer: 317k; 318k;
AZ: 300k pic.twitter.com/7z3HxuQeE7

— Brian MacCraith (@muirtheimhne) June 23, 2021

Meanwhile, the Chair of the High-Level Task Force on COVID-19 has said Ireland is currently receiving the highest number of vaccines to date.

Professor Brian MacCraith said 370,000 doses are being delivered today, with the three largest deliveries of the entire programme due to arrive this week and next.

Deliveries are expected to reduce next month.

Despite the increase in Delta cases, the number of people in hospital and intensive care continues to decrease.

On Monday night, there were 39 coronavirus patients in Irish hospitals - a 35% decrease on this day last week.

Meanwhile, there were 13 in intensive care - a 43% decrease on the 23 recorded last week.