Health minister defends pace of the country's Covid-19 vaccine rollout

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly chatting with William and Veronica Duffy, who received their vaccines today. Picture: Julien Behal

Health minister Stephen Donnelly has defended the pace of the country's vaccine rollout and said Ireland had to accept that it wasn’t vaccinating at the same speed as Northern Ireland or the rest of the UK.

"People are very reasonably looking at the UK and saying they're ahead, and they are, we have to accept that,” he said.

The minister stated that Ireland has one of the fastest rollouts in the EU.

As of February 17, a total of 310,900 doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland — 197,609 people have received their first dose and 113,291 people have received their second dose.

According to HSE Chief Paul Reid, one in five people over the age of 85 have already received their first dose, with numbers expected to rise significantly in the coming weeks as mass vaccination centres open across the country. 

Comparably, 436,143 first doses of the vaccine have been issued in Northern Ireland - approximately 23.3 percent of the population. 

In the UK, 25.4 percent of people have had their first dose. 

"We are a member of the EU, we're going with the EU," the Health minister said. 

“Had we gone on our own, and as a tiny country tried to purchase millions and millions of doses of vaccine, it's not at all certain that we would have been able to do that — we would have been competing with the might of the EU."

The minister said the country is on course to be able to administer over one million doses every month from April, as more vaccine supply becomes available.

'Light at the end of the tunnel' as over 1,000 receive Covid-19 vaccine at DCU

The HSE Covid-19 vaccination centre in the Helix, DCU. Picture: Julien Behal

The Health minister has also said that the opening of the country’s first mass vaccination centre shows that there is “light at the end of the tunnel” in the fight against Covid-19.

The minister was speaking to Newstalk as 1,000 people over the age of 85 received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine at the Helix event centre at Dublin City University (DCU) today.

Mr Donnelly said the events at DCU today were a “hugely positive development".

"It's been the most brutal, hard year for people with so much loss, so much suffering, and to see this today, this is the light at the end of the tunnel," he said.

"Just talking to people here, talking about their hopes and how they're going to start getting on with their lives again is just wonderful."

The minister also said that other mass vaccination centres are due to open in Galway and Cork in the coming weeks.

Those who received the vaccine in DCU on Saturday are scheduled to get thier second dose in 28 days' time.