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A CONSIGNMENT OF 500,000 Covid-19 vaccines donated by Ireland have arrived in Nigeria.
This is the first consignment of vaccines donated by Ireland through the Covax facility, which aims to guarantee fair and equitable vaccine access for every country in the world.
The donation of 500,000 Janssen vaccines form part of Ireland’s commitment to donate 1.3 million vaccine doses through the Covax facility.
The single dose Janssen vaccines will support the national vaccine rollout in Nigeria where the vaccination rate is below 2%.
The World Health Organization had indicated that a global vaccination rate of 70% is needed by mid-2022 if the world is to stem the spread of the disease and reduce the risk of further mutations in the virus.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly noted that this is Ireland’s second significant vaccine donation in recent months following the recent delivery of 300,000 vaccines to Uganda.
In addition to the 1.3 million doses of vaccine Ireland has committed to sharing, it has also committed €7 million in financial support for Covax.
“I believe that everyone should have access to a Covid-19 vaccine, no matter where they live,” Minister for Overseas Development Aid Colm Brophy said.
“As we know from our own experience, vaccines significantly reduce risk of serious illness. Improving the numbers of people vaccinated worldwide is essential to getting the pandemic under control,” Brophy said.
“Ireland has a longstanding relationship with Nigeria and we are happy to support their efforts to keep their people safe,” he added.
Great idea. Word of advice though. Drop the “not for profit” bit. You can do a whole lot with profit, the more profit the better.
When I hear not for profit I always think of large salaries & spending money randomly without benefit so it’s all gone by the end of the year.
If you set out to make a profit, you can do so much more with it, including finding future development of the product/s.
Well done. Everyone should be so very proud of you.
not for profit doesn’t mean no one gets paid or you can’t reinvest?
If you want to profit from the homeless great but “I’m out”
Well said OU 812 – Not for profit, then for what…??
For-profit businesses are why most of us have an income and a roof over our heads. Don’t be so quick to knock them.
This should be given out on the soup runs for those who do not want to or can’t access hostels etc. the government should sponsor it’s development.
This is quite like the American coat that becomes a sleeping bag at night. Saw on an article a few weeks ago. Good idea.
Fair play – what a great idea. Well done.
Well done to the student, while your all finding fault with her project your’re forgetting she is a school student that came up with this idea! Abit ahead of the adults I think !
Let the government buy them off you and hand them out to the homeless until they can find a better solution. Its the least they could do.
Perhaps Ming could make himself usefull and promote this idea……!!
Or Alan Kelly who is actually in government and made certain promises to the homeless! Maybe address your smart comments toward him.
Excellent work! This will most likely save many lives.
However I don’t like the idea of making it easy for the homeless to stay on the streets. They are motivated and driven off the streets for the issues addressed by this product.
This may just make things more comfortable for the homeless and junkies to stay on the streets. Here come the red thumbs!
So they’ll now think “why bother getting a house now, who needs education, a family, comfort, good health or safe protection from other homeless people, junkies and rapists, why would I want any of that now, I’ve made it, I’ve got my 1m wide strip of padded foil…”
I agree James it is a good temporary ‘Tech Fix’, but not the answer to the problem.
How do they get off the streets then if not to a coffin?
There is no rush to get them all a bedsit I think.
It looks like the covers that they put on boxes of bananas to keep them from getting too warm ,beleave it or not as Mr Ripley would say.
Saw this yesterday at the exhibition and it is a wonderful idea with great potential, well done Emily and all at Desmond College.
“The wrap itself is waterproof, inflammable, retains heat and has reflective strips to make it more noticeable.”. Inflammable?? Shouldn’t that say fireproof?
@Alan breen they both mean the same thing
Jimmy Murphy no they don’t,
@alan breen you’re right, inflammable means burns easily.
No Jimmy Murphy, they are polar opposites. Inflammable means easily set alight.
It says ‘non-flammable’.
If want to take this further take a read about the one in Detroit called the Empowerment Plan. The designer of the costs now trains and employs the homeless to make the costs/sleeping bags for others …fantastic!
http://www.empowermentplan.org
Good luck..
Just wondering what kind of the hostel can b so bad that homeless people choose sleep on the street instead?
Vadim, anecdotal evidence from homeless people who have used hostels, tells of drug use, robbery and intimidation. It appears there is little supervision in the dormitories.
Thanks for explaining. So this kind of hostels r only for homeless people.
Hostel won’t take druggies or troublemakers.
Perhaps there needs to be Garda on overnight to put a stop to certain activities.
Fantastic idea , can’t wait to see them littered all over Dublin’s inner city, makes a change from seeing abandoned sleeping bags I suppose .
I always said children were the future!
Eh was that not Whitney Houston ?
My apologies Alan Breen
Let those who refuse reasonable offers of help make their own way in life or death. Most of you would decry locking these people up for their own protection so why or how is this any different? Take the foil blankets of get no soup? Also I’d have concerns about giving any foil based product to addicts.
have your say