Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
LAST UPDATE | 9 May 2021
IRELAND’S VACCINE ROLLOUT has broken its record for vaccinations administered in a single day for the second day running, at over 52,000 jabs done on Friday.
There were a total of 52,278 doses administered on Friday.
Of these, 38,011 were first doses, bringing the total number of first doses administered to 1,305,178.
A total of 14,267 were second doses, now bringing the number of people fully vaccinated against Covid-19 to 494,012.
A total of 1,799,190 doses have been administered so far in the rollout, with The Journal reporting yesterday that it would be possible for the government to hit 80% first doses by the first week of July.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said that the HSE expects to have administered around 230,000 vaccines this week.
Of the types of vaccines administered so far:
Speaking on RTÉ after he received his jab, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that the HSE are expecting that between 250,000 and 270,000 doses of vaccine will be administered next week.
On RTÉ’s This Week, Donnelly says that target of 450,000 vaccines being administered per week is expected to be hit in June.
“It’ll be a combination of the vaccination centres, we’ve 38 of those, the GP’s who’ve been doing a fantastic job. I want to see a more prominent role as well for the pharmacists. They’re really eager to get involved and I think the Janssen vaccine, in particular, will be one where they’ll be able to get stuck in very quickly.”
On whether or not the HSE will be administering Janssen vaccines to people between the age of 45 and 50, as reported by the Sunday Times today, Donnelly said that the Department of Health is currently working with the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) on that.
Donnelly says that they may potentially have an excess of vaccines, which they don’t want, so there is a period of time where offering Janssen vaccines to those under 50 would be possible.
According to Donnelly, he will continue to work with the Department and NIAC on the issue and hopes to bring a recommendation to the government next week.
Hospitalisations
As of 8am this morning, there are 116 patients with confirmed cases of Covid-19 being treated in hospital. There were 11 admissions in the last 24 hours, with three discharges.
However, it should be noted that many hospitals do not discharge patients at the same rate over the weekend.
In ICU, there are 31 patients receiving treatment as of 11:30 this morning. There have been no additional admissions to ICU in the last 24 hours, with one discharge.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Now we are moving!!!!
@Darren Mc Mahon: Great keep it up
@Darren Mc Mahon: defo, got mine on Friday in Richmond barracks, all happened so quick a phone call the night before to be there at 11:30 the next day, quick and easy
@Darren Mc Mahon: mother registered on Thursday getting her jab Tueaday
@Darren Mc Mahon: Being told to snuggle up to within 1m of each other in the Qs in the Helix was intriguing. We were told it is as special zone, indoors, with everyone wearing masks so 1m is fine. It’s like a military operation. Huge credit and respect to everyone working there for clear communications and for creating a wonderful relaxed efficient atmosphere. I didnt get a star though. :-(
Excellent, six more weeks and we should have the back broken on this. School/universities be closed for the summer and should balance out any up tick from retail/personal services being open. Cant wait to go back to the cinema/concerts, hopefully by the middle july start of August.
@Denis Ryan: I don’t get it. Why aren’t people giving out like they usually do about all of this stuff?
@Ciaran O’Mara: because common sense will always prevail. This is superb news, and I can’t wait to see the back of this pandemic!! Almost there hopefully.
@Ciaran O’Mara: the resident 40 or so whingers will find something else to gripe anonymously about, don’t worry.
@DJ François: just to keep ye happy, plandemic, sheep, sheeple, conspiracy, control, rights and freedoms, microchips, Bill Gates, New World Order, the government are rubbish. Did I miss anything?
@Christopher O’Brien: you forgot to mention FFG a number of times and also to blame the government for anything and everything they can think of
@DJ François: they’ve all moved onto the housing crisis news feed. Can’t bring themselves to comment on something positive
In fairness…they are starting to deliver as promised despite logistics problems, they did say at the start that Q2 vaccinations would ramp up significantly …getting my 1st jab tomorrow
@Kevin50: Oh, oh, you’re not supposed to say that. Surely there must be SOMETHING that you can whinge about and blame the government for.
Fantastic work. Great to see them delivering on a promise for a change. Excellent effort despite all of the challenges. Looks like we might meet, if not break, this target after all. Well done to all of those involved in the effort.
Fantastic to see this! Wonderful to see the reopening of society underway. Never again will I take for granted a stroll around town or relaxing in a cafe watching the world go by.
Great positive advances, normality soon..n ta feck witg the moaners.
I got mine yesterday in the Aviva I have to commend the fantastic staff there and they way everything is organised. I was on and out in an hour.
Had my first dose on Friday.
80mins in total from arrival, queuing, administration, and observation. Very well organised tbf. Glad to be step closer to the end.
None of your fancy stuff, just horse it into me
I got mine on Friday at City West. I was extremely impressed with the organisation from entering the car parking to driving home and all so friendly. It was a great day to remember. Well done to all involved
Must be going well no sign of Alan Kelly
My mum’s fully vaccinated now and booking a sun holiday…delighted for her – have booked mine now via HSE’s online booking so fingers crossed I’ll be on that plane with her
@Laura Halpenny: hope ye will have a wonderful holiday and its good to read a good news story.!
@Laura Halpenny: great news. The HSE are now taking biokibgs fir Sun Holidays. Enjoy
Got mine in the Helix in DCU two weeks ago and they were flying! Very impressed with the organisation and how they kept things flowing. Was there for less than 30 minutes and given the amount of people queuing that was no mean achievement…
Can’t wait until we have everyone vaccinated and nobody in hospital and the government will still make us wear masks and social distance “just to be safe”
@.: that’s the spirit.
@.: everyone?, are u speaking on behalf of the entire population there
@Hugo Bugo: He’s obviously not speaking for everyone. Poor chap appears to be under the impression that everyone cares about those around them and is willing to get the vaccine to help get this mess over and done with. He seems unaware of the anti-science mob.
@Tommy Roche: mob, so hurtful, lol,freedom to choose group more like it, apology accepted.
@Hugo Bugo: You’re right, of course. Everyone has the freedom to choose to give two fingers to the rest of society. Rebels Without A Clue.
Great to read so many happy posts about getting vaccinated, I got mine nearly 5 weeks ago as a highly vulnerable person and was in and out in half an hour.
The figures are rising steadily and we are all going to be free from lockdown in the not to distant future.
Our numbers are good in comparison to the rest of the Europe, around the Finish and Norwegian numbers and better than Denmark. That is an achievement.
Only a short while longer so stay the course and dont run amok and in no time, we will all have neat hair and a having a sociable drink with friends.
@Gary Kearney: enough with the bit longer stuff, it’s like a badly recycled movie, too many have used it the last 14 months and just like we are all in this together, it’s lost its meaning a long time ago….let’s just be happy we are vaccinating so many and get open so people can get back working and we never have to hear phrases like, a little longer, hold the course, shifting winds and the rest
Things cannot be processed by the Human brain as normal till all hospitality is fully open. Even if you hate pubs, societal norms are processed by the external stimuli of seeing people coming and going from pubs.
@Margaret Doyle: What???
@Justin Gillespie: a “YouTube” quote? only a lonely would put that on record
@Justin Gillespie: I know a couple of families who, until the pubs were closed, never lived what the rest of us would consider to be normal family lives. Swings and roundabouts.
After 6 weeks of negative publicity conflating the supply shortage with an inability to get it in arms.
Credit were credit is due, we give them enough kickings when they get it wrong. Great to see ya finally getting on top of things. Positive times ahead.
I got mine on Friday at City West. I was extremely impressed with the organisation from entering the car parking to driving home and all so friendly. It was a great day to remember. Well done to all involved
@jeanette: Two doses the same day. That’s great.
We’re getting there at last. Open the pubs.
@Noel Martin: Only a little longer.
Genuine questions.
Do we legally have to get the vaccine ?
When vaccine passports are up and running , will a negative test be enough to travel or will they insist on you being vaccinated?
@conex: No, a negative test should be enough. Depending on the rate of infection in the country travelled to quarantine might be still in effect on the way back.
@Denis Ryan: I would imagine some countries will not let you in unless you have the vaccine
@conex: yes according to the EU people can travel without Being vaccinated once you have a negative PCR test or recently recovered from Covid.
@bmul: That’s a possibility as well, cant tell a second country how they should deal with the public health of their country.
@conex: you don’t have to get the vaccine that is your personal right, however countries may insist you have it before allowing you to enter…precedents would be like yellow fever etc. Also organisations and others may insist that you be vaccinated to protect their staff and others on site within their facility as is their right.
@conex: Have you thought about carrying the virus and giving it to somebody else?
Or even Long Covid, not a nice illness to have.
Tony H is not too happy about people purchasing the Antigen testing kit, I wonder why?
@Noel Martin: coz they are not reliable especially in the hands of amateurs they offer false negatives and positives and people will have a false sense of security
Hopefully B1617 from India won’t scupper everything. The WHO chief scientist stated it may evade current vaccines (see other journal article).
@Tracktrack: they say that about every variant until they no for sure.
@bmul: Agreed. However with that B1617 variant transmitting thousands of times a day in India, the chances of a more concerning mutation happening also increases.
@Tracktrack: They are working on mutations at present the same way they do with the flu vaccine.
Thats how it works but with the Covid vaccines it is all open source material so it happens much faster.
It is going to be you get your flu shot and you covid shot at the same time.
Brillant works by HSE STAFF
GERIT INTA YA CYNTHIA
Finally catching up with our neighbours great news its the equivalent of the UK doing 500K a day which isn’t bad at all. Got mine on Friday too was absolutely delighted to get a text out of the blue calling me in for my jab he was unbelievably well organised with everyone in a great mood even giving out little bags of sweets saying congratulations to everyone that had their jabs.
@Joe Thorpe: what did you get
@trebloc01: The Pfizer one
@trebloc01: Bon Bon’s
Breaks the Irish record, get it right
@trebloc01: First word of the article, try reading it instead of running to the comments.
Go on ya good thing…..
Evidence that the bumps along the road were indeed due to supply issues. Well done to all involved
No way would I get it.
@Ger Walsh: Just keep away from the rest of us!
Brought my mother in law on weds to the aviva to get her first jab, have to say staff there were brilliant well done to al
Breaks the Irish record, nothing to write home about
@trebloc01: It is actually!
They did a similar back patting exercise when they broke the 40k mark..they didn’t say much when that slipped back to less than 18k a day last week
@dublindamo: if they hit 50,000 six days a week and 18,000 one for the next few weeks I’ll be happy
@dublindamo: You should start up a vaccine manufacturing facility in your shed, Damo. That way we’d have consistency of supply, targets would be met and most importantly of all you wouldn’t have time for this nonstop whinging.
It’s actually a slight relief to see how many positive comments there are on this thread.
Given the EU hasn’t ordered any mote AZ vaccine after June , what’s Ireland going to use for all those 2nd jabs.
@Dave McCabe: any of the jabs, it’s perfectly fine to mix them as long as they are the same type I believe
@Dave McCabe: AZ have to fill outstanding orders so should be plenty for 2nd jabs
have your say