Urgent need for pregnant women to get flu jab
PREGNANT women who are due to give birth and have not been vaccinated against flu should have the inoculation as soon as possible.
Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health, Dr Tony Holohan, said the vaccination would improve protection of unborn babies.
And the risks of women contracting flu in the six weeks after they give birth is high.
"If you are pregnant, you should come forward. It is the prudent thing to do," he said.
Worst
Meanwhile, a team of experts has been drafted in to sort out hospitals where A&E overcrowding and trolley gridlock is worst.
Health Minister Mary Harney said around "five or six" hospitals still had problems with overcrowding and that a team of experts from here and the UK had been dispatched to assess the problem.
She said the first hospitals to be visited were Beaumont, in Dublin, Limerick Regional Hospital and Our Lady of Lourdes, Drogheda, with Tallaght Hospital next in line.
On Friday, there were 425 patients waiting on trolleys, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
jlast@herald.ie
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