Beginning of vaccines for 12-15 year olds this weekend

The public health director of the HSE National Vaccination Office said the first vaccines for people aged 12 to 15 are expected to be given this weekend.

Dr Lucy Jessop told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that registrations will open online Thursday for this age group and will require the consent of a parent or guardian.

Dr Jessop said strong adoption is expected as parents are excited to vaccinate their children.

She said children will be vaccinated with mRNA, Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, and each child will need two doses over three to four weeks.

Dr Jessop said most children between the ages of 12 and 15 recover well from Covid-19, but some need hospitalization or intensive care, while some children may develop Long Covid or develop rare multisystem inflammatory disease.

She said no additional safety concerns have been reported when these vaccines have been used in children 12 to 15 years old.

Dr Jessop said mRNA vaccines have been used on adults since December and 4.4 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine have now been administered worldwide.

She said it is important for parents and children to consult up-to-date information on vaccines before choosing to be vaccinated.

Meanwhile, HSE chief executive Paul Reid said nearly 9,000 people received a dose of the vaccine at a walk-in center over the weekend.

In a tweet, Mr Reid said: “2/3 of them had not registered yet. All age groups were represented and on some occasions whole families attended.

“We are now on the last leg of the vaccination program.”

A very busy test weekend. Over 23,000 swabs taken at our community testing sites in the past two days. This weekend testing level was only exceeded once in early January. Appointments available online or on site. @HSELive @paulreiddublin

– Niamh O’Beirne (@NiamhOBeirne) August 8, 2021

The number of hospitalized patients with Covid-19 has risen to 217, according to the latest figures.

This is an increase of nine from yesterday. There are 31 patients with Covid-19 in intensive care.

The Ministry of Health confirmed 1,837 new cases of Covid-19 last night.

In Northern Ireland, there have been 1,129 new cases of Covid and one more person with the virus has died.

Meanwhile, Kazakhstan has been added to the mandatory hotel quarantine list starting at 4 a.m. on Friday.

People arriving in Ireland from the country, who are not yet fully vaccinated, will need to self-quarantine for 14 days.