The Covid-19 vaccination programme is continuing apace in North Cork with almost 1,300 vaccines administered by Mitchelstown's LivingHealth Clinic over three days last week.
Vaccinators at the LivingHealth Clinic administered doses of the Pfizer BioNTech mRNA vaccine to 1,290 people last Wednesday to Friday, including 904 first doses to people aged 18-59 with underlying health conditions.
People in over-70s cohorts are now receiving their second dose of the two-shot vaccine, while another cohort, 18-59-year-olds with underlying health conditions including diabetes, lung conditions and obesity, are now being invited to attend.
"We've moved into the underlying conditions cohort, so now we're seeing a lot more young patients come in," LivingHealth Clinic spokeswoman Julie Beamish said. "We're working with GPs, who are identifying eligible patients from their lists."
Ms Beamish said that if one of their patients thought they were eligible due to an underlying condition from the HSE's list but had not been contacted by their GP, that sending an email was the preferred choice for getting in touch to check their eligibility.
"Our phone lines are really busy but we can check your eligibility if you get in contact by email. We need confirmation from a GP that the person has an underlying condition and that can take time."
HIGH UPTAKE
Last week, concerns were raised by Labour leader Alan Kelly that 220,000 people in the nationwide 60-69 cohort had not registered for their vaccination; the AstraZeneca vaccine is being administered to this age-group and there are fears that vaccine hesitancy regarding the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, both of which have been restricted for use to over-50s, was driving low take-up.
The LivingHealth Clinic only administers the Pfizer vaccine, Ms Beamish said. While "some people have been declining," Ms Beamish said overall take-up was high.
"Our job is not to put pressure on people, so if we call someone and they decline, all we can say is that we will continue to offer it and we will accept them at a later date."
