Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 23 June 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Update on the Cyberattack, Covid-19 Vaccination Roll-out and Covid-19 Restrictions in Maternity Hospitals: Health Service Executive

Mr. Damien McCallion:

We have received 118,000 doses of the Janssen vaccine so far and more than 70,000 had been administered up to a week ago. The balance is with pharmacies now for the over-50s. About 60,000 doses have gone out. We have received one delivery. As Mr. Reid said, the original forecast in June was for approximately 470,000. Because of manufacturing problems in the US, that was revised down to a best case of 235,000 and a worst case of 60,000. I would anticipate it being closer to the worst-case scenario based on the recent feedback from Janssen. We will see how the usage of it works out in pharmacies. We will have some more deliveries to assist the pharmacies if needs be and if they have additional demand in June. As Mr. Reid mentioned earlier, based on the current guidance, the Janssen vaccine would not be available to us for use within the programme beyond that period.