IRELAND is set to receive more than 14 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines in a deal that will cost upwards of €100 million.
Cabinet are discussing plans for the distribution of the vaccine, including the setting up of a large, centralised vaccination centre.
The vaccines, which have to be kept at extremely low temperatures, must be carefully stored and planning for how they will be administered to the public must be meticulous.
It's understood that care-home residents will be the first to receive the jab, followed by front-line health care workers.
The vaccines will then be distributed out to GPs across the country so that people can receive them more locally.
Ireland has spent €112 million on 14.6 million doses, but the vaccines will not arrive until they are clinically approved by the European Medicines Agency.
Once approval is granted, which isn't expected to happen until January, it will likely take a number of months before anything resembling a nationwide vaccination programme can begin in Ireland.
Not all the doses will arrive at once, and the timeline for all 14 million doses is far from secure.
The Government is also developing a new "end-to-end" software to handle registration, bookings, second bookings and monitoring people when they've taken the vaccine.
A two-stage communications strategy is also being devised in order to build public trust in the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.
The first stage will communicate the roll out and distribution plans for the jab, while the second stage will encourage public vaccine confidence and attempt to debunk misinformation spread by anti-vaxxers.
See More: Covid-19, Covid-19 Vaccine
