Potential Covid vaccine: Care home workers 'should be prioritised'
Union calls for engagement with health chiefs
There are calls for workers in care homes to be prioritised if a new Covid-19 vaccine becomes available in Northern Ireland.
On Monday Pfizer and BioNtech said a jab had been tested in over six different countries and had been found to be over 90 percent effective.
While it has been welcomed with cautious optimism, it still has to undergo rigorous testing but if it passes, 10-million doses could become available in the UK by the end of the year.
John-Patrick Clayton is a policy officer at UNISON which represents over 25,000 healthcare staff in Northern Ireland.
He said care home workers should be top of the list if a vaccine is rolled out:
"We would obviously be saying that health and social care workers should be a high priority.
"It’s vitally important that they are kept safe and their families are kept safe and they’re able to keep their patients and the public safe.
"Given that they would be in very close contact with people that have Covid-19, it stands to reason that they would be a high priority."
Downtown Cool FM asked the Department of Health who would be eligible for a jab if it did become available.
In a statement a spokesperson said:
"The vaccine stills needs to officially pass the phase 3 trials and then receive authorisation from MHRA before it can be used in the UK.
"Rollout details will follow once a vaccine has been approved and the Department of Health will be working with colleagues across HSC in preparation for that.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), an independent expert advisory group, will recommend which COVID-19 vaccine(s) should be used, and on the priority groups to receive the vaccine based on the best available clinical, modelling and epidemiological data.
"JCVI have published an interim prioritisation list and subject to their final recommendations, this is likely to be the priority order of who will be offered the vaccine in Northern Ireland."
The website says care home residents and staff are at the top of the list and anyone aged 80 or over and health care workers second.
You can see the full priority list here