covid-19 vaccination in the republic of ireland covid-19 vaccination in the republic of ireland the covid-19 vaccination programme in the republic of ireland is an ongoing mass immunisation campaign that began on 29 december 2020 in response to the covid-19 pandemic in the republic of ireland. ireland's vaccination rollout has been praised as one of the most successful rollouts in the world and was ranked number one in the european union in terms of its percentage of adult population fully vaccinated, and was also ranked number one in the eu for the number of booster vaccines administered. covid-19 vaccination in the republic of irelandlarge vaccination centres were put in place nationwide to administer covid-19 vaccinesdate29 december 2020 – present (2 years, 4 months ago)location republic of irelandcausecovid-19 pandemicorganised byhealth service executive (hse)participants12,744,694 (doses administered)4,107,865 (at least one dose)3,819,227 (second dose)4,817,602 (boosters)outcome 85% of the irish eligible population (5+) are fully vaccinated 77.1% of the irish adult population (18+) have received a first booster dose 27.7% of the irish adult population (18+) have received a second booster dose 8.5% of the irish adult population (18+) have received a third booster dose websitegov.ieas of february 2023 part of a series on thecovid-19 pandemicscientifically accurate atomic model of the external structure of sars-cov-2. each "ball" is an atom. covid-19 (disease) sars-cov-2 (virus) cases deaths timeline 2019 2020 january responses february responses march responses april responses may responses june responses july responses august responses september responses october responses november responses december responses 2021 january responses february responses march responses april responses may responses june responses july responses august responses september responses october responses november responses december responses 2022 january responses february responses 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warp speed misinformation and hesitancy us vaccine card vaccine passports current vaccines coronavac covaxin convidecia janssen medigen moderna novavax oxford–astrazeneca pfizer–biontech sinopharm bibp sputnik v variants variants of concern alpha beta gamma delta omicron other variants epsilon zeta eta theta iota kappa lambda mu cluster 5 lineage b.1.617 economic impact and recession arts and culture aviation cannabis cinema films disney fashion financial markets food industry food security journalism music performing arts retail shipping television us sportscasting programs tourism video games by country canada india ireland malaysia new zealand russia uk us by sport association football baseball basketball combat sports cricket disc golf gaelic games gridiron football ice hockey motorsport rugby league impacts animals black people crime death rates by country disability domestic violence emergency evacuations education female environment hospitals language lgbt community long-term care media coverage mental health symptoms migration military notable deaths other health issues politics diplomacy popular culture protests pregnancy prisons religion catholic church hajj science and technology social media strikes suicides telehealth xenophobia and racism society ireland malaysia new zealand russia uk us covid-19 portal as of 20 february 2023, 12,744,694 vaccine doses have been administered, of which 4,107,865 people have received at least one dose, 3,819,227 have received their second dose and 4,817,602 have received a booster dose. background preparations on 1 december 2020, the government of ireland approved an advance purchase agreement for 875,000 doses of the moderna covid-19 vaccine. on 15 december, minister for health stephen donnelly announced the government's national covid-19 vaccination strategy, which outlined the country's high-level plan for safe, effective and efficient vaccination of the republic of ireland, while safeguarding continued provision of health and social care services. on 17 january 2021, the government requested early deliveries of the oxford–astrazeneca covid-19 vaccine as discussions to secure early delivery of the vaccine got underway. vaccines on order vaccine approval deployment pfizer–biontech 21 december 2020 29 december 2020 moderna 6 january 2021 16 january 2021 oxford–astrazeneca 29 january 2021 8 february 2021 janssen 11 march 2021 6 may 2021 novavax 20 december 2021 29 january 2022 covid-19 booster campaign the health service executive (hse) announced on 24 september that immunocompromised people aged over 12 would be notified of an appointment for a third dose of covid-19 vaccine from wednesday 29 september, as ireland's covid-19 booster vaccination campaign would commence. in addition, the national immunisation advisory committee recommended additional vaccines be given to elderly people aged over 80 and to anyone over 65 in a long-term care facility. on 19 october, the national immunisation advisory committee (niac) approved vaccine boosters for people aged 60 and over. on 1 november, following new advice from niac, minister for health stephen donnelly authorised the use of booster vaccines for healthcare staff, while boosters were extended to people aged 50 to 59, those aged 16 to 59 with an underlying condition and all long-term healthcare facility residents on 16 november. on 26 november, minister for health stephen donnelly announced that booster vaccines would be offered to everyone aged 16 and over, starting with pregnant women aged over 16, those aged 40 to 49 and those aged 16 to 39, following new recommendations from niac. on 13 december, the niac recommended that people would be able to receive a booster dose three months after their second dose. on 19 december, the booster vaccination programme began for people aged 40 to 49. on 23 december, minister for health stephen donnelly announced that booster vaccines would be offered to everyone aged 30 and over from 29 december, and announced on new year's eve that booster vaccines would be offered to all remaining age groups from 2 january 2022, eight days earlier than planned. on 21 february 2022, minister for health stephen donnelly accepted recommendations from niac that booster vaccines be offered to children aged 12 to 15 years. on 6 april, the niac recommended a fourth covid-19 vaccine dose for everyone aged 65 and older, and for those aged 12 and older who are immunocompromised. on 21 april, the hse announced that people aged 65 years and older could book online for their second covid-19 booster vaccine appointment at vaccination centres. on 23 july, minister for health stephen donnelly accepted new recommendations from the niac over ireland's autumn covid-19 vaccination programme, which would see a first, second or third booster vaccine given to certain age groups. on 29 december, the hse announced that people aged 18 to 49 would be offered their second booster dose and a first vaccine for infants and children aged six months to four years was also authorised amid concerns about a rise in cases of covid-19, influenza and other respiratory illness. first booster vaccine second booster vaccine third booster vaccine people living in a nursing home or a long-term care facility people aged 65 and older people aged 65 and older frontline healthcare workers people aged 12 and older who are immunocompromised people aged 12 to 64 who are immunocompromised people aged 40 and older people aged 50 to 64 people aged 16 to 49 who have an underlying condition people aged 12 to 49 who have an underlying condition people who are pregnant people who are pregnant at 16 weeks or later people aged 16 to 39 people aged 12 to 49 living in a long-term care facility people aged 12 to 15 frontline healthcare workers children aged 5 to 11 who are immunocompromised people aged 18 to 49 infants and children aged six months to four years timeline december 2020 annie lynch, a 79-year-old woman, became the first person in the republic of ireland to receive the pfizer–biontech vaccine at st. james's hospital, dublin on 29 december 2020, and received the second dose three weeks later on tuesday 19 january 2021. on st stephen's day, the first shipment of 10,000 pfizer–biontech vaccines arrived in the country. maura byrne, a 95-year-old woman, became the first nursing home resident in the republic of ireland to receive the pfizer–biontech vaccine on 5 january 2021, while dr eavan muldoon, an infectious diseases consultant, became the first healthcare worker in the mater university hospital to receive the vaccine. on the same day, taoiseach micheál martin announced that up to 135,000 people would be vaccinated nationwide by the end of february 2021. january 2021 following the approval of the moderna covid-19 vaccine by the european medicines agency on 6 january 2021, tánaiste leo varadkar announced that the vaccine would allow 10,000 more people in ireland to be vaccinated per week. the rollout of the pfizer–biontech vaccine in private and voluntary nursing homes began nationwide on 7 january, with 22 nursing homes of 3,000 residents and staff to be vaccinated. the first shipment of the moderna covid-19 vaccine arrived in the republic of ireland on 12 january. around 1,800 healthcare workers received the moderna vaccine at three mass vaccination centres that opened in dublin, galway and portlaoise on 16 january. february 2021 the first shipment of 21,600 astrazeneca vaccines arrived in the country on 6 february. on 24 february, minister for health stephen donnelly announced that ireland had ordered enough vaccines to vaccinate 10.3 million people with 18.5 million doses of covid-19 vaccines ordered. march 2021 on 6 march, taoiseach micheál martin announced that ireland had reached the milestone of half a million covid-19 vaccines administered. on 10 march, taoiseach micheál martin confirmed that ireland was to receive a further 46,500 doses of the pfizer–biontech covid-19 vaccine before the end of march. on 22 march, it was announced that president michael d. higgins and his wife sabina higgins received their first doses of a covid-19 vaccine on 19 march. april 2021 on 8 april, the ceo of the health service executive (hse) paul reid announced that ireland had reached the milestone of one million covid-19 vaccines administered. on 15 april, over 26,000 people registered for a covid-19 vaccination after the online portal for 69-year-olds went live. on 25 april, taoiseach micheál martin announced that ireland had reached the milestone of one million first doses of covid-19 vaccines administered. may 2021 on 9 may, taoiseach micheál martin received his first dose of a covid-19 vaccine in cork city hall and urged people to get vaccinated to protect themselves, while a record 52,278 doses were administered on friday 7 may. on 17 may, the national immunisation advisory committee (niac) confirmed that people in their 40s would be given a choice to accept the johnson & johnson or astrazeneca covid-19 vaccine or opt to wait for another vaccine. june 2021 on 2 june, niac advised that the gap between two doses of the astrazeneca vaccine could be reduced from 12 weeks to 8 weeks. on 5 june, minister for health stephen donnelly received his first dose of a covid-19 vaccine in greystones, county wicklow. july 2021 on 2 july, following recommendations from niac, minister for health stephen donnelly announced an expansion of the vaccination rollout programme to younger people with 750 pharmacies to begin administering the janssen vaccine to people in the 18 to 34 age group who opted in for earlier vaccination from 5 july, while vaccination centres would begin administering the astrazeneca vaccine to the group from 12 july. on 5 july, over 500 pharmacies around the country began administering the johnson & johnson vaccine to people aged 18 to 34 who opted-in to receive it. on 27 july, after the covid-19 vaccine registration portal opened to people aged 16 and 17 for the pfizer or moderna vaccines, the government agreed to extend the vaccination programme to those aged 12 to 15 following recommendations from the national immunisation advisory committee. on the evening of 11 august, the covid-19 vaccine registration portal opened to people aged 12 to 15 for the pfizer or moderna vaccines. on 12 august, the chief executive of the hse paul reid said the vaccination programme was in "the final leg" after more than