The Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine rollout is set to begin today at four acute hospitals in the Republic of Ireland.

A minor number of vaccines will be administered at Beaumont and St James’ hospitals in Dublin as well as Cork and Galway university hospitals.

An initial 10,000 doses of the vaccine landed in the country on three days ago and have been in cold storage ever since.

Professor Brian MacCraith, chair of the Government’s vaccine rollout taskforce, stated today that it’s “very possible” that vaccines will be delivered to every nursing home by the end of February.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland Programme this morning, he confirmed that the first dose in the Republic will be administered to a 79-year-old patient in St James’ Hospital today.

“Among the first to receive the vaccine will be — very appropriately — an ICU staff nurse; a staff nurse from the Covid Ward; a junior doctor and an allied health professional as well,” Professor MacCraith said.

“But the very first person to receive the vaccination is a patient called Annie. I won’t give her full name.

“She’s 79. She was born in Christchurch, and grew up in the Liberties. Sadly, her husband passed away earlier this year and just four weeks before her admission in October. She has 10 grandchildren, one of whom works in the ICT department at St James’.

“I’m told told that she is delighted to be getting the vaccine and feels very privileged to be the first person.”

Professor MacCraith also stated that half of the doses will be held back until there is regularity of supply in the first few weeks.

“The approach we’re taking initially — because these are dual-dose vaccines — just until we get absolute certainty about regularity of supply, we will hold back 50% in the initial weeks,” he said.

“Now, we’re expecting that that regularity will happen. And we’re getting more and more assurances from Pfizer in that regard. But, in the coming weeks, we will be growing the numbers.”

MacCraith also hopes that by the end of August, anyone in Ireland who wants to be vaccinated against the virus will have received an offer of a vaccine.

It’s “it’s impossible to be absolutely precise”, but he commented that in “one very positive scenario”, Ireland would be receiving an average of 530,000 doses of the vaccine by August.

“And we’d be ready to deploy those vaccines,” he said.

“So I think certainly if all things come to pass… in terms of expected approval rates and expected delivery schedules, one would be looking at that stage of being very close or at the point of closing out the actual vaccination of as much of the population of Ireland that want the vaccine.”

Ireland is currently in the midst of a third lockdown, with Level 5 restrictions in place until at least January 12th following a new strain of coronavirus emerging.

The first Covid-19 vaccination in the Republic will be given this afternoon to 79-year-old Annie from Dublin at St James' Hospital, chair of the Covid Vaccine Task Force Brian MacCraith tells @morningireland.

— Morning Ireland (@morningireland) December 29, 2020

Feature image: EPA.