Half a million Irish people due boosters have yet to receive them, the HSE has said. 

More than 2.5 million booster shots have been administered so far with 25,000 given in the first four days of this week alone. 

A number of walk-in clinics are open this weekend and people can still book appointments with their local pharmacy. 

Even if the worst of the pandemic is now over, Damien McCallion, who serves as the HSE’s Vaccination Lead, says getting a booster is still an important thing to do: 

“While thankfully we’re seeing really positive news in relation to the impact of the current wave and the current variant,” Mr McCallion said. 

“It still carries a risk and evidence from the US this week, for example, has shown that you have a high 90 percent chance reduction of harm or hospitalisation through having your primary vaccine and booster. 

“So it’s really important for people to protect themselves, protect their family and indeed many around them who may be vulnerable and can’t afford to get this virus.” 

Queues form outside a walk-in vaccination centre in Greystones, Co Wicklow, 09-12-2021. Image: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

As Omicron continues to sweep across America, the US death toll this week hit 900,000 - larger than the population of cities such as Indianapolis, San Francisco, or Charlotte in North Carolina.

“It is an astronomically high number. If you had told most Americans two years ago as this pandemic was getting going that 900,000 Americans would die over the next few years, I think most people would not have believed it,” said Dr Ashish K Jha, who works as Dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health.

“We got the medical science right. We failed on the social science. We failed on how to help people get vaccinated, to combat disinformation, to not politicise this,” Dr Jha added.

On Friday, the Department of Health reported that there were 12,336 new confirmed COVID cases in Ireland - 6,697 came from PCR tests and a further 5,639 from antigen tests registered with the HSE.

Main image: A man receives a vaccine in the US. Picture by: Mark Hertzberg/ZUMA Press Wire.