Data in these reports should be interpreted in context of vaccine coverage. As vast majority (90%) of adult population in Ireland is fully vaccinated, even with a highly effective vaccine, we expect to see more deaths in vaccinated group than much smaller unvaccinated group.
— HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) (@hpscireland) November 16, 2021
A compilation of athletes recently collapsing in unexplained circumstances.
Climate change?
Sport becoming more competitive?
Too much/not enough Gatorade?
We may never know.
Meanwhile…
I played competitive football for 38 years, two times a week. In the veterans teams I played in, many were not in the best of shapes.
Not once have I seen anyone have a heart attack, or leave the pitch even if they were feeling ill, but amongst the young it seems endemic. pic.twitter.com/4KhPYszV0B
Mr Martin said that he would look with interest at how Austria implements its lockdown for those who have not availed of a vaccine.
However, he said that Ireland has a vaccine rate of 93% which places the country is a very different position, compared with Austria where 65% of people are fully vaccinated.
Mr Martin reiterated that the situation was “serious”, adding that vaccination levels meant the country was in a much different position than last year.
He also said the vaccine booster campaign was already showing promising results, with a reduction in serious illness among those in their 80s.
Why is Covid ‘surging’ in Ireland despite almost 100 per cent vaccine uptake?
Via Sky News:
Waterford, in south-eastern Ireland, epitomises the country’s coronavirus conundrum. Why is there a surge in COVID-19 in a nation where around 92% of adults are fully vaccinated?
A huge 99.5% of over-18s in Co Waterford are double-jabbed, but the easing of restrictions and increased travel are thought to be contributing to high infection rates.
Speaking to Sky News, Immunologist Professor Luke O’Neill also added that the “primary goal” of jabs is to “stop illness and death” – not to eradicate the virus.
…Ireland’s National Immunization Advisory Committee (NIAC) has advised its government not to include healthcare workers in its COVID booster roll-out.
De Bara explained this decision to the Irish Times: “Most Healthcare workers have adequate immune systems, and it is unlikely they will need serial boosters as COVID doesn’t change at the same rate that flu does.”
This was a complete reversal of the government’s previous policy in January, suggesting it is undergoing a major rethink. Then, out of the first 94,000 vaccines that were administered, 71,000 (76 percent) were prioritised for those very same healthcare workers, over the elderly who were most at risk of dying from the disease.
The Irish government’s vaccine booster program is being made available for all over-60s—unless, it appears, they are frontline health care workers. This will now begin in January or February of next year as this third jab is understood to be most effective when administered five to six months after receiving the second one.
And the biggest take-up of vaccines in Ireland, particularly the second jab, took place during the months of July and August 2021, which were the very same months that fatalities began to rise again in Ireland.
Could there be a correlation between those two events?
👉🏾If you’re aged 70 or over, your GP will contact you when it’s time for your vaccine. (1/2)
👉🏻If you’re aged 60-69, you’ll get a text message from the HSE with a vaccination centre appointment.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has said that he expects a decision in the coming weeks from Niac about extending the booster campaign to younger cohorts.
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, Mr Coveney said that he believed booster vaccines had a role to play in bringing down case numbers. On a recent visit to Israel and Palestine he had seen the dramatic impact a booster campaign had on the number of cases in hospital and intensive care.
As immunity waned, it was definite that booster vaccines had a role to play, he said.“This won’t be confined to the over-60s. It will extend to the younger cohort too.”
Children between the ages of 5 and 11 are eligible to receive $100 to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced.
The kids will need to have their parent or guardian’s consent to get vaccinated, and de Blasio cautioned that the shot can hurt a little.
But once it’s over, $100 in sweet dough awaits them, de Blasio said in his daily briefing from City Hall.