Covid booster vaccines available to everyone over 50 from today

Everyone in Ireland aged 50 and upwards can now get their free second Covid-19 booster vaccine  — and anyone who has yet to have any shots can begin the process too. File picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews

Anyone over the age of 50 can go for a Covid booster vaccine from today, Thursday August 25, the HSE has said as the booster rollout campaign continues to expand.

Appointments are now available at HSE vaccination clinics, and from GPs and pharmacies around the country.

HSE chief clinical officer Colm Henry said all over-50s can now register for their booster. The boosters also continue to available for pregnant women of all ages who are more than 16 weeks pregnant. 

"If you haven’t had your primary vaccination, it’s not too late," he said. "You can still access the information through the HSE website and book an appointment.  

"Keeping up to date with your vaccines will give you the best protection from serious illness, and increase immunity against infection from Covid-19. 

There are two simple paths to getting your Covid vaccine. 

• HSE appointments can be booked online. Full details of how to make an appointment at the location most convenient for you are available at exa.mn/Booster on the Covid-19 section of the HSE website.

• Alternatively, you can go to a walk-in clinic without an appointment for your Covid-19 vaccine — whether this is your first or second dose, or your booster. Visit exa.mn/Walk-In or click on that link to see the full nationwide list of walk-in clinics. 

Munster walk-in clinics 

• Clare — Ennis Hospital Vaccination Centre (V95 HN29)
• Cork — The Primary Care Centre, Bantry (P75TE27)  
• Cork — North Main St Shopping Centre, Cork City (T12 A6WX)
• Kerry — Monavalley Business Park, Tralee (V94 W3X5)
• Tipperary — Vaccination Centre, Gortnafleur, Clonmel (E91 WR29) 
• Limerick — Scoil Carmel, O’Connell Avenue, Limerick City (V94 W3X5) 
• Waterford — WIT Sports Campus (X91 XD96)

Immunocompromised children aged 5 to 11 will soon receive an invitation to have their first booster, assuming they have already had their vaccines, a HSE spokeswoman said.

Interest in vaccinations among parents of children in this age group remains noticeably lower than for other age groups.

Up to Monday, 116,200 were fully vaccinated, coming to just over 24% of the 480,000 children in this age group.

Across all ages, Department of Health data shows that 3,122,257 booster doses have now been given. 

Vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are being used for over-30s, with under-30s receiving the Pfizer shots.