Northern Ireland is currently administering five times more vaccine doses per day than the Republic, on average.
Figures released by the Department of Health in the North today show that a total of 381,894 vaccines have now been administered – 353,757 first doses and 28,137 second doses.
In the Republic, the HSE has said 243,353 vaccines had been administered by February 8th.
It means that around 26% of all adults have been vaccinated in the North, while only 5% have been vaccinated here.
On Monday this week 2,866 vaccines were administered across the whole of the Republic of Ireland.
On the same day, 14,254 vaccines were administered in Northern Ireland.
On The Hard Shoulder this evening, Newstalk Reporter Barry Whyte, who went to the border area of Strabane and Lifford said: “you can really see the disparity in the vaccine rollouts north and south in a border area like this.”
“In Strabane every second person you meet knows someone who has been vaccinated, while in Lifford, which is just two minutes across the border, nobody has yet received the vaccine.”
In the Western Health Social Care Trust area, which covers Derry, Strabane, Omagh and Fermanagh, 1,400 vaccines are being administered every day.
The area has a population of 300,000, so it is on course to have all adults vaccinated by the end of Summer.
243,353 vaccines have been administered here up to Feb 8th.
In the North, 381,894 have been administered to date.
— Barry Whyte (@BarryWhyte85) February 11, 2021
County Donegal based GP Dr Martin Coyne told Newstalk he is jealous of how quickly the vaccine is being rolled out across the border.
“I’ve got complete vaccine envy when I see how quickly my colleagues north of the border are rolling out the vaccine,” he said.
“They got in ahead of us in December and I’ve been scratching my head looking at how slow the European Union has been rolling out the vaccine and the amount of red tape they are getting bogged down in.
“Northern Ireland are way ahead of us in rolling out the vaccine and hopefully we can catch up with them.”
People walk past a vaccine billboard on the Northside of Dublin, 04-02-2021. Image: Brian Lawless/PA Wire/PA ImagesMeanwhile, people on the northern side of the border in Strabane are breathing a sigh of relief that they are not in the Republic – were they would have to wait a lot longer to get the vaccine.
Emmett Kilpatrick said his 69-year-old mother got the vaccine last week.
“It was very quick and easy to book the vaccine for my mother,” he said.
“I went online and filled in her details and then she received a text message with a time and a date. She got the vaccine the next day.
“My Mum is originally from County Donegal but has lived in Strabane since the early 90s. I’m just glad that she is on this side of the border because it could be months before she would get the vaccine if she was still living in Donegal.”
The Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine ready to be administered to a patient at Falls Surgery on the Falls Road, Belfast, 04-01-2021. Image: Liam McBurney/PA Wire/PA ImagesOne of the main reasons the North is so far ahead in vaccinating people is because it administered the first vaccines three weeks before they were administered here – and it is not getting its vaccines from the EU.
If the North continues vaccinating at the same rate it currently is, by the end of the Summer, 95% of all adults there will be vaccinated.
Meanwhile, around 30% of adults here will be vaccinated if we continue on the same trajectory.
All-island
West Tyrone SDLP MLA Daniel McCrossan said he does foresee problems down the line.
“More needs to be done in the South to speed up the vaccination process,” he said.
“We are going to be in a situation where there is going to be very few vaccinated in the Republic, but across the border in the North quite a significant proportion of the population will be vaccinated.”
You can listen back to Barry's full report here:
