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Vaccine rollout changes to age-based system Amidst heavy criticism of the Government’s vaccine rollout policy, a change to an age-based system was announced by Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly TD in March. The day after the announcement of the shift in strategy, figures showed that over 800,000 vaccine doses had been administered by that point. Of the 806,541 vaccines that had been administered in the Republic, 580,857 were first doses, while 225,684 people had received second doses. In comparison, Northern Ireland had administered 887,598 vaccine doses, with 749,112 being first doses and 138,486 people having received two. Speaking upon the update to the Government’s Covid-19 Vaccination Allocation Strategy, Donnelly said: “The
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vast majority of those who have received vaccines are our most at risk loved ones who have suffered the highest burden of serious illness and death, as well as the social isolation the necessary public health measures have created. We have seen nursing home residents and staff, frontline healthcare workers and those aged over 80 received their Covid-19 vaccines and infection rates in these groups has fallen dramatically and as a result, we have seen clear evidence of vaccination bonus in this cohort, and recently saw visits to nursing homes restart.”
The Government expects that three million doses will be administered over the months of April, May and June, with four in five adults to receive at least one by the end of June. All adults aged over 70 are expected to have received their first dose by mid-April, while the vaccination of those aged between 16-69 at high risk has begun. The Government says that the age-based approach will “make the rollout more efficient at higher volumes of vaccinations, and better meets the objective of protecting those at highest risk first”. Donnelly added that the