Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

863. To ask the Minister for Health the status of booster vaccines; and when he expects all over 70s in Dublin to be offered a booster vaccine. [52256/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

On 8 September, I announced an update to the Covid-19 vaccination programme following advice from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC).

The NIAC has recommended a booster dose of an mRNA vaccine (irrespective of whether the primary vaccination course was of an mRNA or adenoviral vector) for residents aged 65 years and older living in Long Term Residential Care Facilities and for those aged 80 years and older living in the community. The booster dose can be given after a minimum interval of six months following completion of the primary vaccination schedule. I have accepted this advice and the HSE has made the necessary arrangements to operationalise these recommendations with the booster rollout now underway.

The NIAC has now recommended that a booster dose of Pfizer/BioNTech should be offered to all those aged 60-79 who have completed their primary vaccination course with any Covid-19 vaccination. The booster dose should be ideally given 6 months following completion of the primary vaccination schedule (with a minimum interval of 5 months).

The HSE has developed an operational plan for the vaccination of this cohort with the programme expected to commence on the week of 1 November. The timeframe for an individual to be offered a booster vaccination is dependent on their primary vaccination completion date.