There will be almost half a million doses of Covid-19 vaccines in Ireland by the end of March, the minister for health has said.
This includes a combination of 350,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 110,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine, with hopes high that the AstraZeneca vaccine and a further vaccine from Johnson & Johnson could be approved soon too, boosting supplies further.
The latter comes in a single dose and is easier to apply, Stephen Donnelly told RTÉ radio, adding that by the end of February, he anticipated that all nursing home residents and staff along with frontline workers will have been vaccinated.
The minister also defended the pace of the vaccination programme on Newstalk.
We’re not slow. We’re moving at the same pace as the rest of Europe.
"Ireland’s approach was that the only constraint would be the arrival of the vaccine, he said.
350K Pfizer / 2 doses required = 175K vaccinated
110K Morderna / 1 dose required = 110K vaccinated
Total 285K vaccinated by end March.
As reported earlier, we need c. 800K, which are most vulnerable areas, to reduce fatalities by 90%. By end March we’ll still be miles off that…