50,000th vaccine administered at Offaly vaccination centre
THE Covid-19 vaccination centre located at the Court Hotel in Tullamore reached a milestone this week as the 50,000th vaccine was administered at the facility.
It was a day to celebrate and be proud of for the staff at the centre which opened on May 3 this year.
Centre manager Bernie Mann who has been overseeing the day to day running of the clinic said it all started with the 70 plus age group.
"We have been working through the government guidelines, so we have worked from the 70 plus right down to the 69s through to the 60s and into the 50s,'' she said.
"This week we have been doing the 16 and 17-year-olds. The portal is open on Thursday for the 12 to 15-year-olds so we will be administering vaccines to those in the next couple of days,'' said Ms Mann.
The Tullamore centre has the capacity to vaccinate 1,000 people a day.
"As soon as someone is registered we will be scheduling those for a vaccine within a day or two. As we know 6 million people have been vaccinated to date in the country so we will be going down to the 12-year-olds.
"People continue to register and we encourage that," said Ms Mann.
"Even yesterday someone in the 60 to 69-year-old cohort registered which is wonderful. So for various reasons, people didn't register within their cohort but we will continue to register those."
Bernie Mann stressed that the centre will remain open for as long as needed.
"Obviously, there will be booster doses but we have to wait on the government guidelines. We will continue to open and operate as a vaccination centre while there are people to be vaccinated under the government guidelines," Bernie Mann concluded.