Decision to mix vaccines is part of an effort to further speed up the rollout as Covid-19 cases continue to rise, with Ireland now the worst-affected EU country

The team, led by Dr Sue Pavord of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, has not seen any new blood clot cases in the last three to four weeks

'Is the vaccine businesses a sustainable business for AstraZeneca for the next five or 10 years, that big strategic question is under discussion'

Drugs giant AstraZeneca has revealed sales of its Covid-19 vaccine soared to $1. 2bn (€1bn) in the first half as the global jab programme rolled out at pace.

The data provides further support for the decision of several countries to offer alternatives to AstraZeneca as a second shot after the vaccine was linked to rare blood clots.

The HSE announced that over 50% of the adult population - around 1.9m people - is now fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

Those under 35 can now opt-in to receive a one-shot Janssen vaccine in participating pharmacies from the beginning of next week

Australia is offering the AstraZeneca vaccine to all adults in a bid to rapidly ramp up sluggish vaccination rates as more of the country on Tuesday locked down against the spread of Covid-19.

Only two deaths in Australia have been blamed on rare blood clots believed caused by AstraZeneca

HSE chief said roughly 100,000 people per week between now and mid July would receive second jab

The interval between doses of AstraZeneca will be reduced to eight weeks from 12 over the coming weeks, the minister of health has said.

The bloc accused the Anglo-Swedish company of pushing EU deliveries back so it could service the UK among others

EU lawyer Rafael Jafferali told the court that the company now expects to deliver the total number of doses by the end of December, but he added that “with a six-month delay, it’s obviously a failure”.

Protesters are to gather outside AstraZeneca’s Cambridge headquarters in the UK to demand the pharmaceutical firm shares its Covid-19 vaccine technology.

Bosses said sales of some of the company’s other drugs had been affected by the global pandemic, as other medical conditions went untreated, but overall sales remained strong.

Health minister had claimed the EU was taking legal action against AstraZeneca over its failure to meet vaccine delivery targets, which the EU swiftly denied

A European Commission spokesman has since said that legal actions against the company 'had not been taken at this point in time.'

Rollout has resumed across Europe as the European Medicines Agency said the benefits of the jab in preventing Covid-19 outweigh the risks of side-effects

All AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccination clinics planned for today have been cancelled

Niac advises AstraZeneca should not be administered to under-60s over rare blood clot fears

The National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) is due to issue guidance on what age groups should be given the AstraZeneca vaccine following blood clot concerns in younger people.

Former Eastern Bloc is home to almost a quarter of the EU’s 440m population and is struggling to tame the pandemic

With public health nurse visits curtailed by Covid, less than half of our infants had their development health screening on time

But they warn the picture could change rapidly due to the Easter weekend, with the impact of that holiday likely to hit in a week to ten days

Unusual blood clots with low platelets should be considered as rare side-effects of the vaccine, European officials have said

Health Products Regulatory Authority confirmed16 blood clotting incidents had been reported in connection with the AstraZeneca vaccine to date but that none were of the 'rare' brain type

With concerns growing in Northern Ireland about the slow rollout of vaccines here, the republic could stand to benefit from the UK's surplus stock

AstraZeneca says its vaccine has 76% efficacy against symptomatic Covid-19, after the firm updated analysis of the third phase of testing.

The Taoiseach's stance on opposing the move to introduce any sort of restrictions on vaccine exports risks bringing us into conflict with European allies

Shares in AstraZeneca fell by about 1.5% after the US National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases indicated that promising US trial results may give an 'incomplete' view of the vaccine's efficacy

Results from a US trial of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine may have used “outdated information”, according to federal health officials in the country.

Some 32,449 people across all age groups took part in the phase three trial in the US, Chile and Peru, with a total of 141 cases of symptomatic Covid-19 reported

Deputy CMO says sorry, and adds that Thursday's comments were expressing gratitude for the public's compliance with Nphet guidance

All vaccines currently available offer excellent levels of protection and are safe vaccines – take whichever one you’re lucky enough to be offered, writes immunologist Dr Elizabeth Brint

European Union countries, by contrast, have struggled to quickly roll out vaccines, and the pause of the AstraZeneca shot by many this week only added to those troubles.

Clinical Lead of the Irish national audit of stroke, Professor Joe Harbison said it 'has to be emphasised' that the risk of stroke from catching Covid-19 is substantially higher than the risk of developing any problem with the vaccine

Germany is resuming vaccinations with the coronavirus vaccine made by AstraZeneca, following a recommendation by European regulators that the benefits of the jab outweigh the risks.

The suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine in several European countries over the past week could fuel scepticism about the shot far beyond their shores – potentially threatening the rollout of a vaccine that is key to the global strategy to stamp ...

France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands will all resume using the vaccine 

The rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine in Ireland will resume in the next few days, according to the HSE.

Daily case numbers not dropping as quickly as they were in February

Maresa Fagan speaks to Professor Mike Watts, a specialist in blood clots at University Hospital Limerick, about what we know so far

The five people were men aged 19 to 59 who experienced a clot together with low blood platelet count

There is optimism here that the EMA’s Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee will give the vaccine safety clearance following the review