Post Cabinet Statement - Recovery and Resilience: The Path Ahead - 11 May 2021

We continue to progress through the stages of recovery from the pandemic. Thanks to the efforts of the Irish people, we are keeping the virus under control, the vaccine programme is gaining momentum and we are in a position to progress with the gradual and safe reopening of our economy and society.

This week sees a number of restrictions lifted, with an emphasis on outdoor activities and a moderate increase in social contact. Our aim is to keep moving forward, with the full reopening of retail from next Monday, 17 May and further restrictions lifted in early June.

• the vaccine programme is a key enabler to the reopening of society and the economy and is gaining significant momentum. Last week saw the highest weekly total (235,000) and the passing of the milestone of 500,000 people fully vaccinated. Over 1.8 million vaccines have been administered, with 34% of the adult population now having received one dose of the vaccine
• rollout is substantially progressed in those residents aged 65 and older and staff of long-term residential care facilities, front-line healthcare workers and the over-70s. Roll out is also substantially progressed to the very high-risk group through vaccination centres, community vaccination teams and GPs, with over 260,000 citizens in this group having now received their first dose of the vaccine (See Notes)
• Dose 1 administration for those aged 60-69, including those remaining from this group who are very high-risk or high-risk, is now well advanced, with over 269k first doses having been administered
• last week, registration opened for those aged 50-59, with people in this age group being invited to register on a staggered basis, starting with the oldest. Those aged 50 years old will be invited to register from Thursday 13 May
• over 580,000 people have used online registration and HSELive to register for vaccinations to date

This week the plan is to distribute approximately 250,000 - 270,000 vaccines across the follows groups:

• continued rollout to over-70s through GPs with ~ 80,000 to 90,000 vaccines being distributed to practices this week
• plan to administer 50,000 to 60,000 vaccines to very high-risk and high-risk groups through the hospital groups and GPs
• plan to administer 120,000 vaccines to 50-69 years through Vaccination Centres opened across the country
• continuation with vaccination of the hard to reach vulnerable groups in our society

The latest Amárach research shows a steady increase in vaccine uptake attitudes with approximately 70% saying they will definitely get the vaccine when offered and 16% saying they probably will take it.

The Social Activity Measure (SAM) study undertaken with the ESRI finds that support for the vaccine remains strong, with approximately 80% of the population having either received a dose already or intending to receive the vaccine. The majority of the rest are unsure, with consistently less than 10% saying that they will not take the vaccine.

The programme is underpinned by an agile and responsive framework which will continue to support rapid reaction to developments (supply changes, updated medical advice) in relation to the vaccine. The Department of Health is currently considering a revised operational proposal from the HSE on foot of recent recommendations from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) on the use of AstraZeneca and Janssen vaccines.

The vaccine programme is having a very positive impact, with decreases in serious illness, hospitalisations and deaths from the virus. Significant protection is now in place for those in older and more vulnerable groups and the number of cases in long-term residential care, healthcare settings and among healthcare workers is now greatly reduced.

There have been over 1.8m vaccines administered in total:

• *frontline healthcare workers:** Over 260,000 dose 1 vaccines administered. Process for new staff/ student placements and those registered online continues
• those over 70: Over 770,000 vaccines have been administered, comprising 459,000 first doses and 311,000 second doses
• Group 4 (Very High-Risk Group): Over 261,000 people have received their first dose vaccine
• those aged 60-69: including those who are very high risk or high risk: Over 269,000 first doses have been administered to this group

See details on getting your COVID-19 vaccine.

This is based on data up to the week ending 1 May 2021.

Cases of COVID-19 in those 75 years and older

In the last 4 weeks there have been 212 cases among those aged 75 years or over, compared with 6,793 in the first 4 weeks of January, and 1,677 in February.

Cases of COVID-19 among those aged over 65 who were hospitalised

There were 138 hospitalisations of those over 65 years in last 4 weeks compared with 2747 in first 4 weeks of 2021.

19 of confirmed cases of COVID-19 notified in week 17 were known to have been hospitalised.

Cases of COVID-19 among those aged over 65 who died

19 deaths reported in cases age 65 or over who have been notified in the last 4 weeks vs 1,677 in the first 4 weeks of 2021.

1 death has been reported for cases aged over 65 years who were notified during week 17.

Cases of COVID-19 identified as healthcare workers

The proportion of healthcare worker has decreased from a high (for phase 3) of 16.4% in week 3, 2021 to 2.1% in week 17, 2021.

The highest number of of healthcare worker cases occurred during wave 3, in week 1, 2020, with 3,564 HCW cases were notified.

In week 17, 69 of healthcare worker cases were identified.

Outbreaks in nursing homes and community hospitals

Between weeks 13 and 16, only 1 new nursing home outbreak was notified per week.

No new nursing home or community hospital/long-stay unit outbreaks notified in week 17 2021.