THE LARGEST PFIZER vaccine delivery to Ireland of 191,800 doses arrived today, the Taoiseach has said.

During Leaders’ Questions in the Dail, Micheál Martin said around 183,000 people were vaccinated last week and 27.5% of the eligible population have received a first dose.

He said the HSE is now working out the logistics of new advice from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) on the use of the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines, which have both been recommended for people aged 50 and over.

However he said the total number of doses due to arrive in Ireland in the second quarter of the year – some 4.5 million doses – is unchanged. 

“There was very good news today in terms of Pfizer/BioNTech, I think the largest ever delivery has arrived, 191,800 Pfizer vaccines have arrived. Pfizer had proven to be particularly reliable,” he said.

The Department of Health today published an update on vaccine deliveries to Ireland. In total 192,000 doses were delivered last week, with 136,890 coming from Pfizer, 19,200 delivery by Moderna and 36,000 supplied by AstraZeneca.

The Taoiseach said the modelling that the taskforce in the HSE have been doing has been based on being able to delivery 450,000 vaccine doses per week by the middle of June.

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He said this modelling includes the utilisation of vaccination centres, GPs, and pharmacists in the community.

“The objective is to get as many people vaccinated as we possibly can and, notwithstanding all of the obstacles that have arisen, to keep close to those targets by the end of June,” he said.

He said the HSE is “ready to go at it” as soon as the supplies arrive.