Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 9 March 2021
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health
Covid-19 Public Health Measures: Update from Health Service Executive
Mr. Paul Reid:
I am trying to share with the Deputy the data that we foresee becoming available. We will see more data on the individual cohorts vaccinated, the percentage of the cohorts vaccinated and, as we progress, on effectiveness. We have a particular workstream in that regard but it is not finalised just yet. I reassure the Deputy that we now putting all of the data into a single data lake. All of the data that we have from testing and tracing and the vaccination programme are being recorded in the same data lake and so we will be in a stronger position to produce more data as we go along.
The Deputy's second question was in regard to an update on the Moderna vaccine, the delivery schedule and the difference between the gap. I will make two points. I am working off the top of my head but I think the last delivery up to last week was about 42,500. Of that, 1,800 were used for GPs for the initial vaccination programme, which equates to 3,600 in terms of two doses. A further 12,500 were immediately distributed to GPs to help them with some of the more difficult clients they had to get to. They will be utilising that supply. The difference between the Moderna vaccine and the others is that we have to keep a one-for-one distribution in the fridge in our central cold chain storage. For every one we distribute for vaccination, we have to keep a second. That is based on supplier recommendations and guidelines. It is different because of the buffer in any given week. By way of description, a buffer in any given week is a combination of the Pfizer-BioNtech supply that we propose to use for vaccination the following week and whatever distribution we have given out in total for Moderna to be vaccinated. It is slightly different; it is an extra requirement to be held back.
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