Pharmacies to begin vaccinating 18-34 year olds from Monday

Pharmacies can begin vaccinating people aged 18-34 from Monday, 5 July.

Health minister Stephen Donnelly confirmed the news that the youngest age cohort of adults will have the option to be given the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine from their pharmacist from next week.

People aged 18-34 can now contact a participating pharmacy to book an appointment for the Johnson & Johnson (also known as Janssen) vaccine.

The Health minister also announced an expansion of the vaccination roll-out programme, that will see the 18-34 age group being able to 'opt-in' for Janssen or AstraZeneca for earlier vaccination from Monday, 12 July.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Donnelly said this 'opt-in' system will run in parallel with the online portal registration, calling it a two-track approach in the vaccine roll-out.

“Next Monday, pharmacies will begin administering Janssen, to people aged 18 to 34, who have contacted their pharmacy, registered with their pharmacy and said, ‘I’d like to be vaccinated’,” he explained.

"So they can be vaccinated earlier. 18 to 34 can now be vaccinated one to two months earlier which is a huge benefit for them and society in the face of this Delta surge."

From 9 July, the online vaccine portal for the 30-34 age group will be open.

Minister Donnelly also said they are "accelerating" the end of the second dose of AstraZeneca for those aged 60-69 and for all other cohorts that have had their first dose of this vaccine.

"So in the next 10 or 11 days everyone who has had the first dose will have had their second dose. We can do this because the NIAC advice has changed to four weeks," he said.

The HSE has asked people to book in advance so pharmacies will be able to plan accordingly and reduce any potential risk of waste.

The health service added that 60,000 Janssen doses have been allocated to approximately 700 pharmacies across Ireland, with a further 70,000 doses available at short notice, if needed.

Around 7,000 of the doses have been used for people aged 50 or over so far.

The move comes following the approval of the vaccine in younger age groups, amid concerns about a fourth wave of Covid-19 as a result of the Delta variant.

Johnson & Johnson announced this morning that its vaccine is effective against this highly contagious new variant, giving people an immune response lasting at least eight months.

Also speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said today's announcement paves the way for every adult in Ireland to be vaccinated by the end of August, and that he would encourage everyone to get a vaccine as soon as it is available to them.

He also warned that, despite of today’s announcement, Ireland will still see a significant surge in coronavirus infections in the next two months because of the Delta variant.

“That will not materially alter the course of what we’re going to deal with in July and August, it may well alter what we have to deal with beyond that,” he said.