More than 30,000 people in Ireland availed Covid vaccine through walk-in vaccination centres in the weekend, HSE officials said. The HSE set up around 20 walk-in vaccination centres all over the country from Saturday to Monday, which were also bank holidays. Anyone above 16 could come directly to the centre without prior booking to avail vaccine.
“All age groups went through but this initiative makes us beyond proud of younger people. When needed, they once again showed up in numbers,” HSE CEO Paul Reid tweeted following the overwhelming response from the public. The officials had confirmed that more that 10,000 people got vaccinated on the first day itself.
The walk-in centres became very popular and there was a good uptake, noted Damien McCallion, the HSE’s National Lead on Vaccination Programme. “Overall we’re very happy with [the participation], it was a good initiative. And, as I say, alongside the registration system, alongside the GPs and pharmacists who continue to offer the vaccine as well, it has worked very well over this weekend,” he stated.
Meanwhile the health officials confirmed that, the vaccination for children from the age of 12 to 15 would begin within two weeks as the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (Niac) recommended an mRNA vaccine for the age group. They would be given either Pfizer/BioNtech or Moderna, the only two mRNA vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency for children.
The health department yesterday further confirmed 1,372 Covid cases in the country. 177 patients are under treatment in hospitals and 27 of them are in ICUs.