Mater will not answer query on vaccinations for board members

The Mater Hospital in Dublin said it will not be commenting “at this time” on whether non-medical board members were offered the Covid-19 vaccine.

The public hospital, which is part of the Ireland East Hospital Group, was one of the first healthcare settings to get deliveries of Covid-19 vaccines earlier this year to vaccinate its frontline healthcare staff.

The Irish Independent put the query to a public-relations firm acting for the hospital last Friday morning. It was asked whether members of the board had been offered a vaccine and, if so, why.

A response yesterday evening said: “The hospital will not be commenting at this time.”

It comes as the HSE is under pressure to provide a breakdown of the 237,802 vaccinations in the frontline worker category.

The board of the Mater Hospital is made up of medical and non-medical members.

Sources have suggested members of the board who were not given the vaccine as part of their medical role should be offered the option of one because of their importance to the hospital.

Meanwhile, as of Saturday, the vaccination roll-out nationally had administered a first dose to 660,800 people, with 271,524 getting a second dose.

An evaluation of the association between rare blood clots and the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine is due from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) this week.

Earlier yesterday, a senior official in the EMA said there was a link between the vaccine and very rare blood clots in the brain, but the possible causes were still unknown.

Marco Cavaleri, chair of the vaccine evaluation team at the EMA, told the Italian daily Il Messaggero that there is a link and the EMA will be providing an updated evaluation of its assessment this week.

It has previously said its investigation found the benefits of the vaccine outweigh risks. It looked at 44 reported incidents of cerebral enous sinus thrombosis (CVST)out of 9.2 million people who received the vaccine in Europe.

Some countries including France, Germany and the Netherlands have suspended use of the vaccine in younger people while investigations continue.

Up to last Saturday, 203,301 doses of the vaccine were administered here.

It emerged yesterday evening that Oxford University had, as a precautionary measure, paused a trial of the vaccine on children and teenagers while regulators investigate the possible link to the very rare blood clots.

It is testing the vaccine on people aged six to 17 years old.

The World Health Organisation said it expected the EMA would find no reason to change its opinion that the benefits outweigh the risks.

A spokeswoman for the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA), Ireland’s medicines watchdog, said the review by the EMA’s safety committee was ongoing.

The HPRA has received reports of blood clots occurring following vaccination with the AstraZeneca jab. However, none describe CVST, the rare type of blood clot in the brain.

There was also no occurrence of a blood clot associated with the brain.

“Any suspected reports received are being closely monitored and will be considered in the context of the ongoing EMA review.”

The HPRA said it wanted to highlight the advice that, if people develop symptoms such as chest pain or leg swelling, they should seek medical attention.

Irish Independent