Over-70s will not be vaccinated until mid-May, says Donnelly

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said the progress so far on the vaccines rollout should give confidence in Ireland's capacity to deliver the critical vaccination programme.

It will be mid-May before people aged over 70 will be fully vaccinated, health minister Stephen Donnelly has said.

Admitting that the timeline for vaccinations has been delayed by the decision not to give the AstraZeneca vaccine to older people, Mr Donnelly said that the delayed timeline is “dependent upon supplies arriving in”.

Supply chain

Speaking in the Dáil on Thursday afternoon, Mr Donnelly said: “As always, these things are dependent upon the supplies arriving in. If we get the supplies that are forecast — and, as we all now know these things go up and down — it would be around mid-May when the second dose has been completed,” he said.

Mr Donnelly said since Annie Lynch received her vaccine on December 29, more than 240,000 vaccines have been administered.

“While there have been bumps along the way and will be more, this should not detract from the progress made so far,” he said.

“Thanks to the efforts of vaccination teams in every county, Ireland has one of the highest per-capita rates of vaccine administration in the European Union. 

"This is a good performance and one which should give confidence in the capacity and determination of Government, the Department of Health, the HSE and the many partner agencies working with us to deliver this critical vaccination programme.”

It is still possible to have a critical mass of the adult population vaccinated against Covid-19 by September, Mr Donnelly also said.

Autumn target

Asked today about the Autumn target by Labour Party leader Alan Kelly, the Minister for Health replied: “With regard to September, can I caveat it again, as I've tried to do many, many times by saying it's all highly provisional."

In response, Sinn Féin’s health spokesman David Cullinane said the new deadline of the middle of May for all over-70s to be inoculated is a long time for those most at risk to be waiting.

“This will cause concern for many older people," he said.  "I know that the GPs are ready to play their part as, we are told, are pharmacists. There are community vaccinators I am sure who can also play their part. 

"It is obviously very difficult when we hear that we were hoping that it would be the end of March and now it is the middle of May, and may be longer,” he said.