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29th Dec 2020

The first Covid vaccine will be given today: Here’s the planned rollout

Brian Dillon

The first Covid vaccine will be given today: Here's the planned rollout

The first person in Ireland is set to receive the Covid vaccine in Dublin later today.

79-year-old Annie from The Liberties in Dublin will be administered the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine at St James’s Hospital later today.

With this in mind, many are wondering when they might be vaccinated. Who is ahead of who on the list?

Here’s what we know so far:

The government’s plan is to vaccinate 20,000 people a week from early January. This is set to increase to 40,000 as doses become more available.

CEO of the HSE Paul Reid said, “We are dealing with an elderly population, we want to do this right, we want to build confidence and we want to ensure a very strong take-up of the vaccine.”

Elderly residents in nursing homes or other long-term residential care facilities and frontline health workers are at the top of the list of priority.

After people who fit the above description are vaccinated, the next step is to vaccinate people aged 70 and 0ver.

Then, next on the list is other healthcare workers, people between the ages of 65 and 69, key workers, at-risk people with certain medical conditions, people living or working in crowded places, those working in education, people aged 55-64, other important workers and people from the ages of 18 and 54.

Finally, the vaccine will be administered to pregnant women and people aged 18 years and under.

Those getting vaccinated will be required to register online or by phone and will be given a scheduled appointment.

According to the government’s plan, vaccinations will be administered in facilities such as Tallaght Hospital, St James’s and Beaumont, Mayo General Hospital, Cavan General Hospital, Cork University Hospital and University Hospital Galway.

10,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccine arrived in Ireland on Saturday and vaccinations will begin today.

Simon Harris said in a tweet, “An important day. A milestone in this painful #Covid19 story. But it is crucial that we keep each other safe & well as this vaccine programme gets underway. It needs time. Our collective effort now: keep each other alive & well to get the vaccine. Help is on the way.”

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