‘High levels of confidence in vaccines’ – chief medical officer

There are broad levels of confidence in vaccination in Northern Ireland, the region’s chief medical officer has said.

An emphasis has been placed on vaccination programmes against diseases such as influenza, Covid-19, RSV, and shingles in the Department of Health’s winter preparedness plan which was published on Thursday.

Sir Michael McBride told MLAs at the Stormont Health Committee they are mindful to reach out to those for whom English may not be their first language and some areas of socio economic deprivation.

“We have really good data from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health for instance, that shows that vaccine hesitancy is not a significant issue, as many have been indicating, that there is a very high confidence in public, around the parents and in adults in relation to the effectiveness of vaccine,” he told MLAs.

“We do have more work to do, however, in terms of improving accessibility to vaccines. We need to make it easier for people to access vaccines.

“We have a very effective vaccine programme each year involving our colleagues in general practice, trusts, school nurse teams and health visitors. We obviously have community pharmacy working with our care homes.

“I do think we need to be particularly mindful of the fact that there are individual groups within our society who perhaps are new to Northern Ireland, where English may not be their first language. We need to work much more proactively in outreaching into those communities.

“We know that there is lower uptake in some areas of socioeconomic deprivation.

“We need to take a much more targeted, focused approach.”

He added: “In terms of vaccine sceptics, I think the thing that we do know from all the research is that you correct disinformation and misinformation with facts, and that’s what we will continue to do.

“We will continue to point the public and others to the factual position, to the evidence base, to the safeguards that we have in place.

“I’d encourage everyone who’s eligible for a vaccine this winter, please help yourself, protect yourself, protect your family, and actually help everyone who’s working in the front line in the health service to do their job.”