At least 1,000 staff will have to be redeployed within the Health Service Executive to administer a mass swine flu vaccination programme later this year, it was confirmed today.
The HSE's national director of population health Dr Pat Doorley told a press briefing at Government buildings that the vaccines were expected to be licensed in October and while health care workers and at risk groups would be offered the H1N1 pandemic vaccine first, all children would then be offered the vaccine in schools and the general public would be offered it at around 60 special vaccination clinics which would be set up.
At present the HSE is looking at computer systems and other equipment for these vaccination clinics as well as drawing up operating procedures they should follow, he said.
Around 30,000 doses of the swine flu vaccine have already arrived in the State but the HSE expects it will be at least mid October before it willbe able to begin the vaccination programme.
It is expected it will be administered by doctors and nurses.
Dr Doorley said while the vaccination will be free there had been nodecision yet on whether people would have to pay to have it administered. Meanwhile the Department of Health has confirmed that the rate of influenza like illness in the community in the week to last Sunday was 33.7 per 100,000 people, a slight drop on the previous week.
Dr John Devlin, deputy chief medical officer at the Department of Health, confirmed seven people were hospitalised with swine flu in that week, bringing the total numbers hospitalised since the pandemic began to 82.
Of these 20 patient remain in hospital and four remain in intensive care.
Dr Devlin stressed though that the vast majority of cases of swine flu seen here to date were mild.