First look inside a mass vaccination centre in Cork

The City Hall facility is set to be one of the largest in the national network of such vaccination hubs.

Booths where people will receive their vaccine at the new mass vaccination clinic in the City Hall, Cork. Pictures: Dan Linehan

These are the first pictures inside one of the HSE’s mass vaccination hubs which will be used to vaccinate over-70s.

Dozens of individual booths have been constructed in the concert hall of Cork City Hall since the Irish Examiner first reported last Monday that it was one of several venues being considered.

Booths where people will receive their Covid-19 vaccine at the new mass vaccination clinic in the City Hall, Cork.

Health Service Executive chief executive Paul Reid said there will be three GP-led vaccination hubs in place from this week, with plans for up to 40 more similar hubs around the country to follow.

They will range in size and scale, but the City Hall facility is set to be one of the largest in the national network of such hubs.

It is understood that the facility could be brought into use within days to vaccinate HSE frontline staff with the AstraZeneca vaccine, following a delivery to Ireland of 21,000 doses this weekend.

It will also play a key role in the national rollout of the Pfizer-BioNtech and the Moderna vaccines to the over-70s, which it is hoped will start next Monday, February 15.

Workers setting up the mass vaccination clinic in the City Hall, Cork. 

It is expected that the rollout of the first doses in the over-70s vaccination programme will be completed by mid-April, with work on administering the second dose to start in May.

Simon Gleeson and Kieran Boyle of Surecom working on the network at the mass vaccination clinic in the City Hall, Cork.

It is also understood that health officials are considering developing similar vaccination hubs at Mallow GAA Club’s complex in North Cork, at the Bantry primary care centre in West Cork, at institutes of technology in Waterford and Tralee, at a sports complex in Killarney, as well as at the Clonmel Park Hotel and at a hotel in Enniscorthy.

Talks are at an advanced stage about developing similar vaccination facilities in similar locations in Kilkenny and Carlow.