Six deaths and 1,296 cases reported in the Republic

Another six deaths related to the coronavirus and 1,296 cases of Covid-19 were reported in the Republic on the day the first vaccines arrived in the country.

The National Public Health Emergency Team said on Saturday there had been 2,200 deaths as a result of the pandemic.

It is the second day in a row that the number of daily cases of Covid-19 has exceeded the 1,000 mark. Before this week, the daily figure had not exceeded 1,000 since October 25.

Medical Director Dr. Tony Holohan said in a statement: “Within a few weeks of easing the measures in early December, we have now returned to very high levels of Covid-19 circulating in the community that we had not seen. from the peak of wave two of this disease. This is very worrying “.

Previously, the first shipment of the Pfizer / BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine arrived in the Republic.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said the country would begin its vaccination program next Wednesday with front-line healthcare workers and nursing home residents ready to get the vaccine first.

The first doses of the BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine are stored under ultra-low refrigeration conditions in a safe place prior to the launch of the national Covid-19 vaccination program.

“After a difficult and different Christmas for many people, it is wonderful to see the first deliveries of Covid-19 vaccines to Ireland today,” said Donnelly. “The arrival of these vaccines in Ireland is a significant and positive”, he added, describing it as a “massive achievement by the scientific and medical communities. [which] it will save many lives ”.

He said the recent surge in cases had focused “our collective minds on the ongoing challenge of Covid-19” and said the advent of “safe and effective vaccines will help us protect the most vulnerable in our society as we intensify our program. immunization “. ”.

He suggested that the vaccine promised “a brighter year” but emphasized the “need to be aware of the Covid-19 threat” and follow all public health guidelines “and remember that every contact counts.”

HSE CEO Paul Reid said the handover was “a welcome sight at a very difficult time in our efforts to curb the devastating impact of Covid-19.”

He said it represented “hope for all of us as we move into a new year, but we must remember that we all still have our part to play.”

Professor Brian MacCraith, chair of the government task force on Covid-19, added that after “a truly horrible year, today’s arrival represents a bright new dawn of hope. It is a gateway to the opportunity for the Irish to protect themselves against this terrible virus. “

HSE Clinical Director Dr. Colm Henry noted that while the arrival of the vaccine was a very positive development, “it is critical that we all keep in mind that the vaccine is not our first line of defense against Covid-19. ”.

He said the advice to the public remains the same “particularly because we see an increase in community transmission and the number of cases continues to rise.”

The first batch of the vaccine is understood to contain 10,000 doses of the jab with the next shipment, in the tens of thousands of doses, to be delivered in the first week of January.

The HSE anticipates that 30,000 nursing home residents will be vaccinated by the end of January, having received the required two doses.

After front-line healthcare workers and nursing home residents are vaccinated, people over the age of 70; other health workers who are not in direct contact with the patient, people aged 65 to 69 and other “key workers” will be vaccinated in that order.

This will be followed by people ages 18 to 64 with certain medical conditions; who are residents of long-term care facilities and who live or work in crowded environments.

The next to be immunized will be key workers in essential jobs that cannot avoid a high risk of exposure; people who work in education, people between 55 and 64 years old, other workers in occupations important to the functioning of society and people between 18 and 54 years old.

However, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that mass inoculation against Covid-19 is unlikely to be possible until May or June, as the vaccine will not be available in sufficient quantities until then.

Mr. Martin said that normal life will not return until the summer at the earliest and that the return to normalcy will be “tentative.”

“I think the first six months of 2021 will see improvements, but we certainly will not be normal in the first six months as we knew it,” he said in Government Buildings.

Martin said that the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, had informed the leaders of the European Union that the manufacture of vaccines “will certainly increase. [in] March onwards and she would have identified May-June as critical months in terms of high volumes of vaccines arriving ”.

He said expected vaccine volumes in January and February were “relatively low in terms of what was to come later. But that’s where we will deal with nursing home residents, healthcare workers, and key workers. . . that will make a significant difference in itself. If we can immunize and protect the most vulnerable, that already begins to give us greater freedom in terms of political options and decisions we make.