IRELAND is set to miss a key target in its Covid-19 vaccination programme following yet more supply issues.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has warned that a shortfall in Covid-19 vaccine deliveries means that Ireland will likely miss its pledge to vaccinate 82% of the adult population before the end of June.
To date, 2.5 million doses of the vaccine have been administered, and according to Minister Donnelly, take-up is going from "strength to strength".
But he said it was unclear whether the government would reach its intended target before the end of next month, due to yet more issues with vaccine supplies.
Speaking in the Dáil on Thursday morning, Mr Donnelly revealed there were "serious concerns" over the supply of the Janssen (Johnson and Johnson) vaccine in the coming weeks.
"It looks like we're going to get a significant under-delivery on Janssen and there are question marks as to what's going to come in from AstraZeneca," Donnelly said.
Ireland was set receive 600,000 doses of the J&J vaccine between April and June, but as yet, only 26,400 shots have arrived.
The vast majority are set to be delivered next month, but it now looks increasingly unlikely that all 600,000 doses will make it here on time.
According to Minister Donnelly, the best-case scenario now is that around 235,000 doses would be delivered in June, and the worst-case scenario would be a figure "as low as around 60,000".
