University of Limerick could be used as mass vaccination centre for rollout of Covid vaccines

The University of Limerick may be used as a mass vaccination centre next year to facilitate the roll out of Covid-19 vaccines in Ireland.

The roll out strategy, which was drawn up by the High-Level Task Force on Covid-19 Vaccination, was approved by Government this Tuesday morning.

Once approved by the European Medicines Agency, vaccines will be administered in three phases – the initial roll-out, a mass ramp-up and open access.

While the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine could be formally authorised for use as soon as next Monday, it will take around a week before the first jabs will be administered in Ireland.

At a media briefing this afternoon, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said the initial batch of any vaccine is likely to be small but that larger batches will be delivered towards the end of January and in early February.

According to the strategy, the mass ramp-up stage can only begin once there is a sufficient quantity of doses available.

As agreed by Government last week, the highest priority groups – those aged over 65 in long-term care facilities and frontline healthcare workers in direct patient contact – will receive vaccinations first.

University Hospital Limerick is likely to play a significant role in the initial stages of the roll out programme while the University of Limerick may be used later in 2021.

Professor Brian MacCraith, chairman of the high-level taskforce says he has had discussions with a number of third-level institutions, including UL, about using their campuses to develop mass vaccination centres.

"We've had a number of conversations with third level institutions - I've spoken with the presidents of NUI Galway, Waterford  Institute of Technology, University if Limerick and UCC in the past number of days," he said.

"All have expressed great support for the concept of actually being able to assist in the development development of mass vaccination centres but that work is ongoing," he added.

Paul Reid, CEO of the HSE, said the location of mass vaccination centres will depend on a number of factors including what vaccines are being offered and the timing of their delivery.

Dr Holohan, Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health, says its important that members of the public continue to observe public health guidelines such as social distancing and wearing masks for several months.

Separately, a further 25 cases of Covid-19 were reported in Limerick this evening.