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Dublin’s grandmother Annie Lynch (79) became the first person in the Republic to receive the coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday afternoon.
The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine will be administered at four locations Tuesday: St James’s and Beaumont Hospitals in Dublin, Cork University Hospital and Galway University Hospital.
Ms. Lynch, who grew up in Liberties, received the vaccine just before 1.30pm at St James Hospital. She has 10 grandchildren and lost her husband in October. Deborah Cross, nurse, administered the vaccine to Mrs. Lynch.
“This is a momentous day. It is the beginning of a complex process, the beginning of the end of a terrible period, ”Professor Brian MacCraith, head of the working group on vaccines, told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland today.
Among those who will be the first to receive the vaccine will be an ICU staff nurse, a Covid ward nurse, a junior physician and an allied healthcare professional, Professor MacCraith added.
There are currently just under 10,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNtech two-step vaccine in the country. About 30,000 more are expected to arrive today.
Two doses of the vaccine are required for each person, so 10,000 doses are required to vaccinate 5,000 people.
This will be followed by 40,000 doses per week during January and early February. The plan is to vaccinate 20,000 people per week from the beginning of January, and this will increase to 40,000 during the month and through February.
Professor MacCraith explained that the reason that half of the doses that arrived in the country on December 26 had been withheld was to ensure that health authorities had sufficient quantities to administer the required second dose.
This was a precaution and once the supply chains, manufacturing schedules and delivery dates have been confirmed, “we will never hold the vaccine,” he said.
There have been some difficulties around supplying the vaccine in other countries that explain the precaution, he said. “We want to get to a situation where we can use all 40,000 doses as soon as possible,” he said.
Professor MacCraith said that when the AstraZeneca vaccine becomes available it will be “a game changer” because it does not have to be stored at extremely low temperatures.
He hopes that by August anyone who wants the vaccine will have it.
A recent survey had indicated that more than 70 percent of the population would be willing to receive the vaccine, and only one in ten said no.
A communication campaign to provide reassurance and address concerns would play an important role in the coming months, he said.
The first phase of the rollout will focus on frontline healthcare workers and older people in long-term residential care settings, such as nursing homes.
The plan to vaccinate more than 580 nursing homes will begin on January 11, but some vaccinations in nursing homes will take place the week before.
It is expected that until the end of February two doses of the vaccine will be administered to the 70,000 inhabitants and personnel of the vulnerable sector.
Initially, the vaccination of people in nursing homes will be carried out by 180 community health vaccinators.
The HSE has said that another 1,500 vaccinators will be available in the acute hospital system as the implementation plan accelerates.
The second phase of the vaccine launch will include doses that will be administered to cohorts of the general public, according to priority group, by general practitioners and pharmacists, and in mass vaccination centers.
“Today, a great beacon of light begins to shine, as we begin our vaccination program,” wrote HSE Executive Director Paul Reid on Twitter.
“We are going to galvanize ourselves and unite behind this. It will take time, but stay positive, stay safe, stay with us and we’ll get there. “
There are indications that Moderna’s vaccine, which is also complex to administer, could be approved as of January 6. There will be more than 300,000 doses delivered to the state before the end of February, more than enough to immunize the entire nursing home sector.
Next on the vaccination list are people 70 and older; other health workers; people 65 to 69 years old; key workers; people at risk due to medical conditions; and those who live or work in crowded conditions.
This will be followed by people who work in education; those from 55 to 64 years old; workers in other occupations important to the functioning of society; people between 18 and 54 years old; and, finally, pregnant women and those under 18 years of age.
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