Four million people could be vaccinated in Ireland against Covid 19 by the end of September.
The Health Minister has sent updated projections saying 7.5m doses should arrive between April and the end of September.
Stephen Donnelly already said 700,000 people should be vaccinated by the end of March.
A decision is due at the end of the month on the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is seen as the game-changer, as it doesn’t have to be stored at ultra-cold temperatures.
Dr. Denis McCauley says the vaccine rollout will speed up significantly once doctors are allowed administer it.
“If we have enough AstraZenaca vaccines in our GP surgeries, we will be doing a million every six weeks at the very least, it is to do with the actual vaccine that is available, once we get the proper vaccine, we will be the primary vaccinators” said Dr McCauley.
Meanwhile a medical expert is calling on the government to order five million doses of the AstraZenaca vaccine – outside its agreement with the EU.
Germany broke out of the union’s combined purchase effort to get more doses of the Pfizer Bio-N-Tech jab.
Ireland is getting 1.1% of an agreed group order from the European Commission however Dr Jack Lambert, a professor of infectious diseases in UCD has said the current plan isn’t working.
