HSE chief: 95% of Covid-19 vaccine supply has been used

By the end of next week the quantities of vaccines scheduled to have arrived in the country will be Pzifer/BioNTech – 195,000, AstraZeneca – 150,000 and Moderna – 30,000.

The director general of the HSE, Paul Reid, has said 95% of the supply of Covid-19 vaccines has been used, with a small amount being held back for second doses.

Speaking on RTÉ radio’s News at One, Mr Reid explained that by the end of next week the quantities of vaccines scheduled to have arrived in the country will be Pzifer/BioNTech – 195,000, AstraZeneca – 150,000 and Moderna – 30,000.

The full figures for the quarter will be 1.24m doses of which 700,000 will be Pfizer, 450,000 of AstraZeneca and 110,000 of the Moderna vaccine.

Mr Reid added that the latest vaccination figures were that 281,000 doses had been administered, of which 182,000 were the first dose, while 98,000 had received their second dose.

This week, the figure should be 80,000 vaccinations made up of 25,000 first doses and 40,000 second doses and 30,500 doses to GPs and the over-85s. 

“We’re well on track for the 80,000 figure.

“As we get the vaccines we’re distributing them immediately.” 

Mr Reid said vaccinations were being carried out at the rate at which the supply was arriving.

The failure to provide data on vaccinations to the European Centre for Disease Control was an error and there was no issue of being unable to track the vaccines, he said.

Mr Reid said this weekend at DCU the vaccination clinic would vaccinate 1,000 patients from 80 general practices.