Ireland's vaccination programme is making “great headway” with over 1 million people vaccinated in May and a total of 2.7 million vaccines administered, HSE chief Paul Reid has said.
In a message posted on Twitter, he said 50 per cent of the adult population has had one dose and close to 20 per cent of people have had a second dose. “Reduced illness, sickness, mortality and a massive take-up,” he noted.
The vaccination programme is now making great headway. Over 1M done in May, 2.7M in total. 50% of adult population had a dose 1 & close to 20% dose 2. Reduced illness, sickness, mortality & a massive take up. The team below in Carrick on Shannon, playing their part now. @HSELive pic.twitter.com/cPvdKTzQbS
— Paul Reid (@paulreiddublin) May 30, 2021
The update comes as Tánaiste Leo Varadkar announced the Government has set a new vaccination target.
The new aim is to ensure 60 per cent of the population, or 2.5 million people, are fully vaccinated by the end of July.
“That’s where we need to be,” Mr Varadkar told RTÉ.
Meanwhile, Brian MacCraith, chair of the Government's vaccine taskforce, said 2.5 million will be fully immunised by some time in July.
He told the Business Post: “We expect we will achieve 2.5 million fully vaccinated in July. That is not a target, but we expect to reach that and get above that in July.”
Mr MacCraith also said there would be a significant milestone in the vaccination programme this week when the biggest single delivery of doses arrives in the State.
“A delivery of 284.310 doses will arrive from Pfizer this Wednesday,” he told the Business Post.
