Bumper vaccine delivery will be one of NI’s biggest shipments yet

That is according to Health Minister Robin Swann who promised a major expansion of the roll-out during a visit to the vaccination centre at the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald on Tuesday.

First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill also paid a visit to the vaccine centre, and afterwards promised “brighter days” to come thanks to the success of the programme.

A total of 596,527 people have now been vaccinated — more than 40% of the adult population — with both doses of the vaccine having now been administered across all care homes.

Arlene Foster said: ““I am delighted to see at first-hand the truly life-saving work of our vaccines programme, which is currently running every day of the week, right across Northern Ireland.

“We are now well through the Phase 3 stage with 641,121 vaccines administered and the programme is accelerating. Later this month we will see the opening of the mass testing facilities at the SSE Arena, along with the inclusion of over 350 local pharmacies as part of a planned expansion. This gives us all the much-needed confidence that brighter days are close at hand.”

She added: “It is an opportune time to say a heartfelt thank-you to all of those involved in the programme, the organisers, vaccinators and volunteers for their dedicated service. It is down to their hard work and expertise that this programme has significantly surpassed targets to protect our citizens.”

Michelle O’Neill said: “The success of our vaccination programme has been nothing short of amazing. It is remarkable that more than 641,000 vaccines have been administered across the north in only three months since the programme commenced on 8 December.

““The Covid-19 vaccine is a precious resource that offers valuable protection to people across our community and will help to drive forward our recovery from the pandemic.”

The Deputy First Minister added: “We are immensely grateful to all those who have been involved in the planning and delivery of the programme and to all those who have come forward to be vaccinated.”