Dear reader,

Care home residents and health and social care workers will be the first priority groups when a Covid-19 vaccine is rolled out in Northern Ireland next month.

Health Minister Robin Swann confirmed that while regulatory approval for a vaccine has still not been obtained, it was expected that the roll-out would begin during December. He added that further priority groups in early 2021 will be based on age and clinical vulnerability factors. 

The Department of Health in Northern Ireland meanwhile has confirmed that adults with Down’s syndrome have been added to the Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (CEV) list.

The CEV list is a list of people with specific conditions that place them at the highest risk of becoming seriously unwell if they are exposed to Covid-19.

 Dr Michael McBride, is writing to all adults with Down’s syndrome to advise them that they have been included on the list, and advise them what this means for them.

The Department has also confirmed that another eight people who tested positive for Covid-19 have died. One of those who passed away was between 40 and 59 years of age. Another 442 new coronavirus infections were also confirmed in the last 24 hours. 

Alistair Bushe

Editor

* To those of you who do not subscribe to The News Letter, we are pleased to announce today we're bringing our digital subscription price down 30 per cent, for new subscribers, to mark Black Friday. - Just 70p a month for three months. 

That's less than the price of a cup of coffee for three whole months of unlimited access to our website, all our news, politics, sport and features along with subscriber only daily online Puzzles, and our newspaper app if you opt to go Digital+. 

So much is going on currently, and with this deal you can stay on top of it all at a fantastic price.

It's absolutely worth it - and you can give it a try here