HSE says nearly 250,000 doses of Covid 19 vaccines administered to date
over 4 years in The Irish Times
Almost 250,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered to date, the Health Service Executive has said.
Up to Monday evening, 243,353 vaccines had been administered, 154,900 with the first dose and 88,453 people have received their second dose and are now fully vaccinated.
A total of 91,548 vaccines have been administered in long-term health care facilities and 150,789 to healthcare workers.
Next week, the HSE says 79,500 vaccines will be given, but only 12,000 of those will be given to the over-70s starting with those who are over 85. They will be administered at 84 GP practices across the State in 20 counties.
Of the rest, 42,500 will be given to those in long-term care facilities of whom 40,600 will be second doses.
Of the 25,000 vaccinations to be administered to healthcare workers next week, 22,000 will receive the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine and 3,000 the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
HSE chief executive Paul Reid said Ireland is third in the EU per head of population - behind Malta and Denmark - for vaccinations administered to date. He said it will be a “very exciting week next week, we truly are moving into a new phase.”
The weekly HSE briefing on Covid-19 heard that the number of hospital acquired Covid-19 infections increased sharply in the third wave and the total number last month alone was nearly double than the total number in 2020.
Some 1,544 people contracted Covid-19 in hospitals in January. The total for all of 2020 was 789.
The number of healthcare staff off work as a result of Covid-19 has halved in the last fortnight from 6,600 to 3,350.
Mr Reid said the falling Covid-19 numbers are a “huge relief” for hospitals with Covid-19 patients.
The number of people with with Covid-19 in hospital as of Thursday morning was 984, the first time have dropped below 1,000 since January 8th. There were 169 people in intensive care units on Thursday morning.