THE FIRST SHIPMENT of the Moderna vaccine against Covid-19 is due to arrive in the country later this week.

The vaccine, which is to be the second to come into use in Ireland, should be here in the coming days.

At a briefing this evening, chair of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee Professor Karina Butler said she understood there would be a shipment of the Moderna vaccine in Ireland by the end of the week.

875,000 doses of the vaccine have been ordered for Ireland, which, like the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, requires two doses to be given to each recipient.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved the vaccine on 6 January, cementing the Moderna jab as the second against Covid-19 to receive authorisation in the EU following the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

Executive director of the EMA Emer Cooke said that the Modern vaccine “provides us with another tool to overcome the current emergency”.

“It is a testament to the efforts and commitment of all involved that we have this second positive vaccine recommendation just short of a year since the pandemic was declared by WHO,” Cooke said.

“As for all medicines, we will closely monitor data on the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine to ensure ongoing protection of the EU public,” she said. 

Clinical trials of the Moderna vaccine, which uses mRNA technology, found it to be 94.5% effective against Covid-19.

Ireland’s vaccination programme began at the end of December when 79-year-old Dublin woman Annie Lynch became the first person in the country to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

The HSE is expected to begin giving regular updates on the number of people vaccinated in Ireland.

In a statement to TheJournal.ie yesterday, the HSE confirmed that it will be publishing reports on the uptake of the vaccine.

“As the programme has just started the data is being collated and validated; it will be reported and published by the HSE at a later date,” the HSE said.  

“Currently the vaccines administered data is being reported on a weekly basis at the HSE Covid-19 media briefing (every Thursday).”

Additional reporting by Cónal Thomas