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Vaccination Programme

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 July 2021

Thursday, 1 July 2021

Questions (478)

Bernard Durkan

Question:

478. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Health the extent to which the roll-out of vaccines continues at pace in line with expectations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29225/21]

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Written answers

The vaccination programme continues to make significant progress with over 4 million vaccines administered to date. Over 2.4 million have now received a first dose with approximately 1.6 million fully vaccinated.

The rollout continues at pace despite the HSE cyber-attack, albeit with some impact on data reporting systems. The w/c 21 June saw the programme administer approximately 347,000 vaccinations which represents the highest weekly total to date.

The rollout of the shorter interval of 8 weeks for the AstraZeneca second dose commenced w/c 14th June with the current plan assuming completion by the end of July. This requires re-planning of 450,000 people who will now receive their second dose earlier than originally anticipated, including front line health care workers, medically vulnerable and people aged 60 to 69 years. In the last two weeks over 200,000 second doses of AZ were administered which was in line with targets.

The vaccination roll-out programme continues to demonstrate agility and responsiveness to revisions to the advice on the use of vaccines and changes to vaccine delivery schedules. The continued success of the vaccination programme has led to a marked reduction in levels of hospitalisation and has been a key enabler in the partial reopening of Irish society.

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