Covid: Unvaccinated and unboosted ‘disproportionally’ represented in hospitals

Vivienne Clarke

The HSE’s chief clinical officer has repeated a call for anyone eligible for a booster Covid-19 vaccine to get it, as the number of people in hospital with the virus increases.

People who were not vaccinated or had not yet been boosted were “disproportionally” represented in hospital figures, Dr Colm Henry told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.

His comments came as there were 905 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in hospitals around the country as of this morning.

Dr Henry said that while half of the people in hospital with Covid-19 had been admitted with other conditions and subsequently tested positive for the virus, the same preventative measures had to be put in place to stop its spread to the vulnerable.

It was important for people to return to basic public health measures, he urged. This including isolating if they experienced any symptoms, and getting the vaccine or booster.

Six-week plateau

A range of tests were now in place to determine the level of the virus in the community, including PCR tests – of which 41,000 were carried out last week and 36 per cent were positive.

Trends of Covid-like symptoms presenting at GP surgeries were also being monitored and wastewater was also being tested.

Ireland was now in week four or five of a six-week plateau, after which case numbers in the community are expected to decline, but there will be a lag time before there will be a decline in numbers in hospital, he explained.

Older people and people with underlying conditions needed to get their booster as the vaccine waned in time and protection was important, he said.