Ireland reaches 500,000 corona vaccinations

DUBLIN: Ireland has reached the milestone of half a million coronavirus jabs administered. Taoiseach Micheal Martin hailed progress in the pandemic, tweeting on Saturday afternoon that he had been informed by the HSE that the country had passed the half-million mark.

Speaking earlier in a video posted on Twitter, Mr Martin said he had been inspired by recent visits to vaccination centres where thousands of frontline healthcare workers were receiving the inoculation. He said the government and the HSE are doing everything they can to secure supplies and to give vaccines to people as quickly as possible.

The first coronavirus vaccine in Ireland was was given to Dublin pensioner Annie Lynch 63 days ago. “Next week we will begin to vaccinate those with underlying health conditions as well as continuing to vaccinate the over-70s and healthcare workers,” Mr Martin said.

The Taoiseach said the vaccines are reducing the impact of the virus, adding: “This can be seen in the reduced levels of infection in our nursing homes and amongst our frontline healthcare workers. This brings hope, along with the continued fall in Covid numbers, thanks to the sacrifices you have been making.

“The 14-day incidence level fell below 200 this week for the first time since Christmas. While our health services are still under pressure, the number of patients in our hospitals and ICUs is reducing significantly.”

However, he added a note of caution, warning that variants of the virus mean people should not relax in observing restrictions. On Saturday the number of patients with Covid-19 dropped to 99, with the number of cases in hospital at 401. Paul Reid, chief executive of the HSE, described it as a “great sign”.

On Friday, one further death with the virus and 522 new cases were notified in the Republic of Ireland. Meanwhile, protesters calling for an end of lockdown restrictions have gathered in Cork city centre. Dunnes Stores boarded up windows on its premises in Patrick Street ahead of the demonstration which started at 2pm.