Co-leader of the Social Democrats, R\u00f3is\u00edn Shortall TD, has asked the Government to consider moving teenagers with underlying health conditions further up the priority list when a Covid-19 vaccine becomes available.<\/p>\n
Speaking in the D\u00e1il today, Deputy Shortall said:<\/p>\n
\u201cEarlier this week, the Minister for Health released the first report in relation to the proposed priority groupings for the vaccine. It was surprising and disappointing to note that on a list of 14 cohorts, teenagers under the age of 18 were last on the list.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a significant number of young people in this category with serious underlying health conditions, so it is difficult to understand why they are so far down the list.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know from the analysis done on cases \u2013 in terms of mortality or admissions to hospital and ICU \u2013 that having one or more underlying health conditions is a very significant factor for outcomes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe impact of Covid-19 on mental health was raised in the D\u00e1il week. For teenagers living with serious medical conditions, the mental health impact is multiplied several times over.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a terrible blow to young people in those circumstances to hear they are last on the list to get the vaccine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI note the T\u00e1naiste\u2019s comments today that he will engage with the Chief Medical Officer and NPHET on these concerns and I hope that due consideration will be give to moving this particular category of young person \u2013 in addition to adults with underlying conditions under the age of 65 \u2013 further up the priority list.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fantastic breakthrough in relation to vaccines has given hope to people the world over. However, in rolling out a vaccination programme, it is important the Government ensures that the most vulnerable in our society are early recipients.\u201d<\/p>\n
December 10, 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Co-leader of the Social Democrats, R\u00f3is\u00edn Shortall TD, has asked the Government to consider moving teenagers with underlying health conditions further up the priority list when a Covid-19 vaccine becomes available. Speaking in the D\u00e1il today, Deputy Shortall said: \u201cEarlier this week, the Minister for Health released the first report in relation to the proposed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,264],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-release","category-roisin-shortall"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n