St Patrick’s Day: Police hand out 135 notices for breach of Covid regulations across NI

Covid vaccine appointments 'will not be cancelled' - and second doses will go ahead despite delays

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Subscribe              Mar 18, 2021           Dear reader The head of the vaccine programme in Northern Ireland has offered reassurance after concern mounted over significant delays to the UK's Covid-19 rollout.  It emerged overnight that NHS England was fearful of a major slowdown in the programme during April due to a difficulty in sourcing AstraZeneca jabs.  Patricia Donnelly, the head of the vaccine programme here, told the Assembly's Health committee on Thursday that plans had been flexed to make more use of Pfizer jabs pending the arrival of further AstraZeneca stock. After days of controversy around the AstraZeneca jab with a number of European countries pausing its use amid fears over blood clots, the World Health Organisation has offered reassurance.  Dr Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, said it was "routine to signal adverse events" but people should "have confidence" in the protection given by vaccines. The Department of Health also revealed details of the latest Covid-19 statistics here. One more person who tested positive for the virus has died over the last 24 hours while another 169 people have recorded positive tests.  Alistair Bushe Editor   Want total access to all of our online content? You can subscribe to our website, newsletter.co.uk for just £1 a month for 3 months - and it couldn't be easier.   Signing up will get you faster-loading articles, fewer adverts and access to exclusive content and events when we run them. To learn more, visit our Subscriptions page here.             Covid vaccine appointments 'will not be cancelled' - and second doses will go ahead despite delays           Covid vaccinations will not be cancelled and second doses will go ahead despite an expected supply shortage, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has announced.                 St Patrick's Day: Police hand out 135 notices for breach of Covid regulations across NI - stinger used to stop car at Sprucefield   Police handed out 135 enforcement notices for breaches of Covid restrictions across NI on St Patrick's Day.           Risk of Covid reinfection is low - but over-65s are most at risk   The majority of people who catch Covid-19 will be protected for at least six months, although those over-65 are more vulnerable to reinfection, according to a new study           Putting off winter lockdown caused around 25k excess UK Covid deaths - according to a new report   Delays in implementing the UK's winter lockdown caused around 25,000 excess deaths, and meant the lockdown needed to be longer and stricter, according to new research from a think tank.           New precautionary advice issued for people receiving Oxford/AstraZeneca jab - AstraZeneca vaccine has 'no proven causal association' with blood clotting says MHRA   The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has new precautionary advice for people receiving the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab.           Heartfelt appeal for teachers in special schools to get Covid-19 vaccine   The husband of a teacher in a Special School has made a heartfelt appeal for teachers who work in this sector to get their vaccine "as a matter of priority".           One more person dies with Covid-19 as 169 test positive in last 24 hours   Another person has died after testing positive for Covid-19, the latest Department of Health dashboard has revealed.           Covid: Rapid testing to be rolled out for pupils in all special schools in NI   Rapid testing for Covid-19 is to be rolled out across all special schools in Northern Ireland.           Hundreds of local Ulster chemists to give out Covid-19 vaccine jabs   From the end of March pharmacies in Northern Ireland are to begin administering coronavirus jabs.                 View more news

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