Ireland ranks third in the EU in terms of the speed of vaccine rollout, according to the HSE.

A total of 243,353 doses of vaccine had been administered by Monday – with 154,900 people receiving their first jab and 88,453 people fully vaccinated.

The HSE expects to administer 79,500 more doses next week – with the over-85s the next group on the list.

The plan will see 42,500 care homes residents getting the jab, alongside 25,000 frontline healthcare workers and 12,000 elderly people.

At a briefing this afternoon, HSE Chief Executive Paul Reid said Ireland has one of the highest vaccination rates in Europe per head of populatoin.

“Certainly, as you will from all commentary, that puts Ireland currently third in the EU for dose per 100 of the population,” he said. “Just behind Malta and Denmark and well above the EU average.

Vaccine

Speaking the Dáil earlier, the Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said the over-70s will not be fully vaccinated until the middle of May.

The government's initial target was for all over-70s to have been vaccinated by the end of March.

Minister Donnelly said it will now be closer to the middle of the year.

“The schedule I have would suggest that the group will have finished their second doses by mid-May but, as always, these things are dependent on the supplies arriving in.

“If we get the supplies that are forecast and, as we all now know, these things go up and down, it will be around mid-May when the second doses are complete.”

Vaccine rollout in Ireland. Image: Gov.ie

So far the only vaccines administered in Ireland have been the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna jabs.

The first 21,600 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine arrived into Ireland last Saturday.

With reporting from Kacey O'Riordan and Seán Defoe