General Public will get the vaccine after Easter, Varadkar

Tanáiste Leo Varadkar said that the general public will be vaccinated for Covid-19 after Easter. He also added that people could expect a good summer to come.

“For people who are generally well and under 65, it’ll be after Easter, realistically” He said.

Prior to this, Varadkar said that that accines will eventually be made available to the general public through GP surgeries and pharmacies, while 15 mass vaccination centers will be set up around the country. He made this comments, when he was the Taoiseach.

“We have 10 million doses ordered, they just haven’t arrived yet. So we’ll have enough for everyone,” Varadkar said.

He also said that the vaccine will be free and won’t be compulsory.

During an interview for an Irish radio, Varadkar said that it had been a slow start for the government’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout but said that vaccine distribution has been rapidly accelerated in the past week. 

He said that more than 35,000 people, almost all healthcare workers and people in nursing homes, were vaccinated last week. He also added that 40,000 people will receive their first dose of the vaccine this week. 

He also added that by end of January all nursing home residents and staff will receive their first dose of the vaccine and will receive their second dose by mid-February. Other healthcare workers will receive the vaccine in February.

People over the age of 65 or with underlying health conditions should be vaccinated by March or April. 

Varadkar said that the vaccination roll-out in Ireland is going on in a serious pace. He also said that supply shouldn’t be an issue in the coming months because other authorized vaccines and the Pfizer vaccine is more widely available. 

‘GPs and pharmacies have the capacity to administer roughly 100,000 vaccines per week once vaccines are widely available’ he said.