Nursing home visitors will be required to show proof of vaccination or immunity from Covid-19 from Monday under new guidelines.
According to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), residents in nursing homes and other long-term residential care facilities have a right to maintain “meaningful relationships” with people, with visiting considered a key part of that.
The requirement to show Covid certs or immunity from the virus comes as the HPSC updated its guidance, called Normalising Visiting in Long-term Residential Care Facilities.
The European Covid cert or HSE vaccination card will be accepted along with proof of immunity due to prior Covid-19 infection.
For regular visitors, a check will be made only once and not for each visit.
There will be exemptions on compassionate grounds, not limited to when the death of a resident is imminent.
Compassionate and critical events include when a resident becomes particularly distressed, when there is an important life event such as a resident’s birthday or when the resident expresses a “strong sense of need” to see someone, the HPSC said.
The new guidelines come into effect from Monday.
The HPSC guidance states that a person who is fully vaccinated or has immunity is "far less likely" to acquire severed Covid-19 disease as a result of exposure to the virus.
The HPSC added that there is evidence that people who are fully vaccinated are likely to be infectious for a shorter period of time if they do contract Covid.
“It is reasonable, therefore, to expect that people who are fully vaccinated or have immunity as a result of prior infection are less likely to be the source of introduction of virus into a setting such as a [long-term residential care facility],” the guidance states.
