Laois has one of the lowest Covid-19 vaccination rate in Ireland

Newly published show that Laois has the third lowest uptake rate for Covid-19 in the Republic of Ireland and is a full 10 percentage points behind Wexford which has almost full uptake.

The Health Protect Surveillance Centre has released vaccination rates by county for the week ending Sunday, January 9.

It shows that the national uptake rate is 94.6%. Nearly 99.9% of eligible recipients have been vaccinated in Waterford compared to just 89% of people in Laois.

The HPSC reports on 12 age categories. Laois is above the national average for full vaccination in just one category - teenagers aged 16-17. The national average for this age group is 87% but in Laois 87.7%.

In all other areas even among the older more vulnerable groups, Laois is less compliant than other counties.

Nationally, 99.9% of eligble people aged 70 and over have been vaccinated. In Laois, 93.9% of people aged 70-79 have received the jab while 95.7% of those aged 80 and over have been vaccinated. 

The highest vaccination rate in Laois is among people aged 60 to 69 with 96.6% of this age group vaccinated. The national average is 98.6%.

While Laois has the lowest, below average vaccination rates are found in Midland and some border counties. Monaghan and Donegal have the lowest vaccination rates, both of which have had high infection rates through the pandemic in the Republic.

Monaghan has the lowest vaccination rate in the country at 86.9%.