Covid-19: Vaccines saving lives in NI, McBride says

The public should have a high level of confidence in the Covid-19 vaccines being used in Northern Ireland, the chief medical officer has said.

Dr Michael McBride said any vaccine that protects against serious illness, hospitalisation and death is a "successful vaccine".

Concerns have been raised about the efficacy of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine against a South Africa strain.

Meanwhile, a further 12 coronavirus-related deaths were reported on Monday.

The Department of Health's death toll is 1,943. An additional 296 cases of the virus have also been recorded.

There are 598 people with Covid-19 in hospital, of which 60 are in intensive care.

So far, 303,478 people in Northern Ireland have received the first dose of a vaccine, while 27,463 people have received the second dose.

Speaking in the assembly on Monday, the health minister said officials were still seeing outbreaks of Covid-19 which could be traced back to funerals.

Robin Swann said the pandemic had changed people's "perception of death" and "those things that were so normal for so many people have now been challenged".

He acknowledged that limits on numbers were hard for families, but current restrictions were still necessary.

Dr McBride said more studies in relation vaccines and variants are needed and people should remain vigilant.

"I'm aware of a small scale study that suggests AstraZeneca may not be as effective against mild disease from the South Africa strain of the virus," he said.

Dr McBride added there have been no confirmed cases of this strain in NI.

However, he said the vaccine rollout to date "gives real hope that we will get through this pandemic".

He said both the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines being administered are "protecting people" and "saving lives".

Dr McBride said coronavirus precautions such as keeping distance and good hygiene will help "protect ourselves against all variants of Covid-19 in the same way".

"The more this virus spreads, the more opportunity it gets to mutate and produce new variants. We all have a vital role in preventing it spreading," the chief medical officer continued.

On Monday, UK health minister Edward Argar said the government anticipated an annual vaccination would be required as a booster against emerging variants.