Weekend walk-in vaccination clinics hailed a big success

Walk-in Covid vaccination clinics (first dose) in Donegal and the north west over the bank holiday, have been heralded a huge success. 

The Donegal clinics were based at the LYIT and Carndonagh vaccination clinics. Letterkenny was open on Saturday and Sunday to anyone over the age of 16, while the Carndonagh facility was open for the Bank Holiday Monday.

South Donegal residents were able to avail of a walk-in facility at the IT Sligo vaccination clinic throughout the long weekend. 

Paul Reed, CEO of the HSE said that it had been “an inspiring weekend for the vaccination programme”. 

He said: “Over 18,000 people have availed of walk-in centres so far. Continuing today (Monday) in 26 locations. People of all ages attending, 50% aged 16-17 years old & 64% 19 or under. Approximately. 2.1m vaccines administered in just 6 weeks.”

However the good news was tempered with the revelation that 15 patients were being treated for Covid-19 on Sunday evening at Letterkenny University Hospital (LUH), five of whom had been admitted in the previous 24 hours, which was the highest number of admissions in that period with Mayo.

A further five patients were being treated at Sligo University Hospital, which covers a wide area of south Donegal.

Over the bank holiday weekend, the Donegal hospital was the fourth busiest in the country in dealing with Covid patients. Hospitals in Galway and Mayo had one more patient than LUH, with Dublin’s St James’s Hospital, treating 21 patients.

Two of the LUH patients were being treated in the intensive care unit (ICU), also called the high dependency unit (HDU) while two of the five patients in SUH were also being treated in ICU/HDU. 

On Sunday evening, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre had been notified of an additional 1,098 confirmed cases of Covid-19 nationally.

163 Covid-19 patients were hospitalised, of which 26 are in the ICU.

A sad milestone was reached over the weekend from Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, who confirmed that 300,000 cases had now been reported in Ireland since the beginning of the pandemic.  

He said: “However, we have also seen how solidarity continues to be the hallmark of our response with young people across the country lining up to get vaccinated, both to protect themselves and to play their part in protecting the community.

“I strongly urge anyone eligible for a vaccine to come forward and avail of the opportunity as soon as possible.”

And in another weekend development, a new Digital Covid Certificate self-service online portal has been launched.  

This will allow members of the public to request changes to their Digital Covid Certificate already received; request to have their Digital Covid Certificate emailed; check the status of their Digital Covid Certificate of vaccination where it has not yet been received and continue to request a certificate of recovery.