Over 21,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine arrived into Ireland this morning, with the shipment being accepted from Belgium to the national cold chain store in Dublin.
Sharing a video of the vaccine arriving into the capital, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly described it as a "big day", tweeting to say:
"Big day. The @HSELive has just sent me this video of the first 21600 doses of AstraZeneca arriving this afternoon from Belgium to the national cold chain store in Dublin. First doses to be given to healthcare workers on Monday. Well done to all."
https://twitter.com/DonnellyStephen/status/1358083299370029066
The first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine are due to be given out from this coming Monday. The HSE has said that a similar-sized batch of the vaccine is expected to be delivered next weekend.
Previously telling the Dáil that the plan is for
all Irish residents to be offered a vaccine before September time, Donnelly has since spoken out to say that the statement "wasn't a promise" and was "heavily caveated". Later commenting that the predicted timeline was given based on a broad number of different factors, he went on to say that "September is absolutely still the aspiration".
