The Oxford Covid-19 vaccination rollout has begun in Northern Ireland with up to 11,000 people over the age of 80 to receive the jab this week.
A batch of 50,000 doses will be allocated with those over the age of 80 to be initially prioritised. With the new variant of Covid-19 detected in Northern Ireland as well as the pace of the pandemic picking up, the country has moved to accelerate inoculation.
Describing this as a “game-changer”, Northern Ireland’s Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael Mcbride stated, “It is a step-change in terms of the vaccine programme, because this is (a programme) that will allow us to get the vaccine out to people through general practices and what we now need to do is continue to vaccinate those most vulnerable and at risk as safely and quickly as we possibly can.”