79-year-old grandmother first to receive vaccine

A 79-year-old grandmother from Dublin will be the first person in the Republic to receive the coronavirus vaccination.

The woman, named Annie, from The Liberties, will be administered the Pfizer-BioNTech jab at St James’s Hospital on Tuesday afternoon.

Around 10,000 doses of the vaccine arrived in Ireland on St Stephen’s Day.

The first vaccine will be administered at 1.30pm on Tuesday at St James’s Hospital.

Chair of the Covid vaccine taskforce Professor Brian MacCraith said an ICU nurse will receive the jab and Annie will then receive it after.

Professor MacCraith said that Annie is a grandmother of 10 and was born in Christchurch, south Dublin.

The rollout of the vaccine will take place across four hospitals, including St James’s and Beaumont hospital in Dublin, University Hospital Galway and Cork University Hospital.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the first to be approved for use in Ireland by the European Medicines Agency.

Around 40,000 doses of the vaccine will arrive in Ireland every week throughout January and February.

Professor MacCraith told RTE Morning Ireland that among the first to receive the vaccine include an ICU nurse and junior doctor.

The rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine to nursing home residents and staff is expected to start next week.

It will be rolled out across a three-week period in a full sweep followed by a second three-week vaccination programme.

Professor MacCraith said he believes it is possible to have the vaccinations in nursing homes completed in February.

“It’s very appropriate that those who suffered the most from this awful pandemic will be the number one priority,” Professor MacCraith said.

“It’s very positive that we can predict that we will complete all vaccinations in nursing homes by the middle of February.

“That’s the level of ramp that will happen.”

Following that vaccination process, health authorities will begin to vaccinate those aged over 70.

Professor MacCraith said it’s impossible to be “absolutely precise” when the vaccination process will be completed in Ireland.

“In all our modelling we are looking at various authorisation and approval dates, looking at potential scales of arrival,” he added.

He said that in a best case scenario, anyone who wants to receive the vaccine will be able to do so by August.

He said that around 530,000 vaccines will arrive in Ireland a week at its peak.

HSE boss Paul Reid said the process will take time.

He tweeted: “Today, a great beacon of light starts to shine, as we commence our vaccination programme.

“Let’s all galvanise and unite behind this.

“It will take time but stay positive, stay safe, stick with us and we will get there.”

Online Editors