Over 65s in long-term care, frontline healthcare workers and over 70s will be the first people in Ireland to get the Covid-19 vaccine once it is approved.
The government has announced a new strategy for the delivery of Covid-19 vaccines to priority groups.
The first to receive the jab will be over the age of 65 living in long-term care facilities, healthcare workers in direct patient contact, those aged 70 and over and people who are medically vulnerable.
Following this, the scheme will roll out to healthcare workers not in direct patient contact, people aged 65-69 (prioritising those with medical conditions), key workers and people aged 18-64 years with medical conditions that put them at risk and residents of long-term care facilities aged 18-64 or those living and working in crowded accommodation.
Minister Stephen Donnelly has indicated that the vaccine will be free of charge to everyone in Ireland.
Ireland has made advanced purchase orders for five types of Covid-19 vaccine, including 2.3 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 880,000 of the Moderna vaccine. A further 3.3 million doses of Astrazeneca/Oxford University vaccine have been ordered.
Meanwhile, the first Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines are being administered in Northern Ireland and the UK from today.
