AstraZeneca Vaccine Roll Out Begins Today

Healthcare workers will start to receive the first dose of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine from today

21,600 doses of the vaccine arrived in the country on Saturday.
Elsewhere , GPs will start the roll-out of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines from next Monday to those aged over 85.
Deliveries will be prioritised to areas with a higher proportion of older people.

Meanwhile a leading infectious diseases expert says the government must heavily reinforce local public health departments before even considering easing restrictions. 12 more deaths were confirmed last night, while another 1,024 cases were detected.
In public hospitals last night there were 1,212 people receiving treatment with Covid-19, with 179 people in ICU.
Professor Sam McConkey of the RCSI says every public health team in the country needs an IT upgrade and a serious boost in manpower.