Inoculating a nominated visitor for nursing home residents as a “vaccine buddy” in the first Covid-19 vaccinations would help their wellbeing, the nursing home sector has said. The vaccination programme is expected to begin soon with the first vaccine expected from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German biotech company BioNTech. The EU’s drug approval authority, the European Medicines Agency, could approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at a meeting on December 29th with the vaccine distributed thereafter. President Michael D Higgins, who turns 80 in April, will take the Covid-19 vaccine when it is recommended, his spokesman said. Independent Sligo-Leitrim TD Marian Harkin told RTÉ that a “vaccine buddy” scheme for nursing home residents was “a good idea” because residents had been “very isolated” during the pandemic and had not been able to see loved ones.

Source: The Irish Times December 06, 2020 20:03 UTC