Last, remaining unvaccinated people in Kildare urged to get jab

A councillor and vaccinator has urged people not yet vaccinated in Co Kildare to come forward for the Covid-19 jab.

The county has a large multi national population, many of who work in several sectors and contribute to the local economy.

The HSE has begun a public information campaign focusing on foreign national communities in an attempt to increase vaccination uptake which is running far behind the general population.

Hospitals

Urging people to get the jab, Cllr Peggy O’Dwyer, a nurse who has administered hundreds of vaccines since the pandemic began, said unvaccinated patients are increasingly being admitted to hospital with the virus.

She said: “Up to 8% approximately of the population is not vaccinated. We must all make every effort to encourage the unvaccinated to come forward for vaccination.

“We owe it to each other and out of respect to all who have died as a result of Covid -19 we will always remember them.

“Unvaccinated people are contributing to our new numbers increasing hospitalization and ICU admissions.

“In fact, unvaccinated individuals account for more than half of ICU admissions.”

Cllr O’Dwyer also blamed the anti-vaccine movement for spreading inaccurate information about vaccines.

She said: “Covid-19 vaccines have come through rigorous trials and have been licensed for use worldwide.”

Central Statistics Office (CSO) data released last week shows that just 44 per cent of Eastern European immigrants living in Ireland were vaccinated up to September — compared to around 90% for Irish people.

The figures was particularly low for men from Eastern European countries with just 39 per cent vaccinated compared to 49 per cent of women.

Just 26 per cent of Eastern European employees in agriculture, forestry and fishing are vaccinated.

Booster shots

Cllr O’Dwyer also called for the roll-out of booster vaccines for frontline workers.

She said: “If frontline workers are on sick leave due to Covid-19 it puts enormous pressure on work colleagues who in turn are unable to provide the level of care that patients deserve.

“With nurses and midwives now working with reduced staffing levels and some are developing Covid for the second time I fully support the INMO in their request for booster doses for health care workers as many are well over six months from their original vaccination dose.”

The HSE said its vaccination information material is available in 27 languages already and there are 36 multilingual video messages on the vaccine and ways to avoid the spread of Covid-19.

As part of a new campaign to focus on unvaccinated immigrants and pregnant women from immigrant communities, the HSE is now sending out messages on social media in Polish, Punjabi (India), Portuguese (Brazil), Lithuanian, Yoruba (Nigeria), Philippines (Tagalog), Urdu (Pakistan) and Latvian.

There have been radio campaigns in 10 languages including Italian, Spanish, French, Polish, Punjab, Urdu, and Russian and digital advertisements on Spotify.

Press advertisements have also been published in Russian, Lithuanian and Polish language newspapers in circulation across the country.