The Public Health Agency (PHA) is calling on the parents of 5 to 11 year olds to get their child vaccinated against COVID-19. While most children aged 5 to 11 will have mild disease if they contract COVID-19, some may experience symptoms which last longer than just a few days. Vaccination of children in this age group has been shown to help prevent the small number of hospitalisations and intensive care admissions that can occur in this age group. It has also been shown to help provide short-term protection against non-severe disease. Dr Jillian Johnston, Joint Interim Assistant Director in

No Smoking Month is just around the corner and the Public Health Agency (PHA) and Cancer Focus Northern Ireland are urging people to ‘Make March Your Month to Quit’. Colette Rogers, Strategic Lead for Tobacco Control with the PHA, said: “We are encouraging people to use No Smoking Month as an opportunity to begin their quit journey and improve their health. “With the recent introduction of new legislation to protect children from second hand smoke in cars, maybe you’ve already been thinking about trying to quit. No Smoking Month could be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for to set a quit

There are at least 104 research nurses and midwives across Northern Ireland working within all areas of healthcare, reveals a landmark new census initiated by a group of NIHR 70@70 Senior Nurse & Midwife Research Leaders. The census, incorporating responses from research nurses and midwives across all four UK nations and the Republic of Ireland, reveals nurses and midwives are working at every level in healthcare from Bands 5 – 9 in the UK, and from staff nurse to Directors of Nursing or Midwifery in the Republic of Ireland. This suggests there are opportunities to join the profession at every

With spring just around the corner the Public Health Agency (PHA) is reminding pregnant women about the risk of close contact with sheep during lambing season. The PHA is advising women who are, or think they may be, pregnant to reduce their risk of miscarriage and infection by avoiding close contact with sheep during lambing season, which runs from January until around the end of April. Dr Gillian Armstrong, Interim Head of Health Protection at the PHA, said: “Pregnant women who come into close contact with sheep during lambing may be risking their own health and that of their unborn child

A new online platform has been launched to help support communities following a sudden death that is a suspected suicide. Comkit is supported by the Public Health Agency (PHA) and has been developed with Urban Scale Interventions (USI) in partnership with Families’ Voices Forum as well as community and voluntary groups who are members of local Protect Life Implementation Groups (PLIGS) from five health and social care trusts. The platform is customised for use by family, friends, neighbours, media, political representatives and community organisations. It uses a number of example scenarios and

Nuvaxovid, the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Novavax, has been give n regulatory approval by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). It becomes the fifth COVID-19 vaccine authorised by the UK’s independent medicines regulator. In reaching its decision, the MHRA considered the results of 2 large clinical trials involving nearly 50,000 participants. In Northern Ireland almost 500 participants from across the region volunteered to take part in the clinical trial which was led by researchers Professor Danny McAuley, Professor Judy Bradley and Dr Johnny Stewart from Queen’s