Major milestone – half of all NI adults now have first dose of Covid jab

The milestone was reached yesterday, and covers all people aged 18 and over who have received an initial dose –totalling 726,589 individuals out of an adult population of 1.45 million.

Based on the NI Statistics and Research Agency’s 2019 population figures for the Province (the most recent ones that could be found), the proportion of adults with a first dose yesterday stood at just a tiny fraction of a percent above 50%.

Meanwhile, news that the UK is willing to send millions of vaccine jabs to the Irish Republic should stand as a clear illustration that the UK – not the EU – is Ireland’s true friend, Sammy Wilson has declared.

Click here: ‘Vaccine offer shows Irish Republic that UK – not EU – is its true friend’

But as Northern Ireland reached its milestone of half the adult population receiving a first dose, another four deaths were recorded by the Department of Health over the weekend.

On Saturday afternoon the department said there had been two deaths, with 138 individuals testing positive for Covid-19 over the previous 24 hours, and yesterday it reported another two deaths and 116 individuals with positive tests.

On top of the 726,589 first dose vaccinations which had been administered by yesterday (making up slightly over 50% of the Province’s 18-plus population) there had been 123,452 second doses doled out.

The biggest single group to have received vaccines is health staff.

In all, 130,865 health workers had received first doses as of yesterday – and 68,139 had received second doses.

Yesterday, the number of vaccines given out over a 24-hour period was 10,088.

The SSE Arena in Belfast is due to begin operating as a vaccination centre from today.

The general direction of travel is positive – daily fatalities linked to coronavirus have regularly been in the low single digits for a fortnight.

That is down from a daily record of 29 deaths on January 17 – the height of the second spike. The first spike peaked on April 22 last year, with 19 deaths.

And on this day last year, there were four deaths recorded.

Meanwhile, the UK is expecting to receive its first shipment of a new coronavirus vaccine next month, a Cabinet minister has confirmed, amid challenges in international supplies.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden expressed confidence that the first Moderna jabs are still on course to arrive in April, in what would provide relief for the overall vaccine roll-out programme.

Vaccine supplies have been affected by issues in India, where a temporary hold on AstraZeneca exports has been imposed, and there has been trepidation because of a row with the European Union over exports.

However, Mr Dowden insisted the vaccination programme remains “on course” to hit the target of offering a jab to all adults by July.

“We expect that in April Moderna will come,” he told ‘The Andrew Marr Show’ on BBC One.

With 17 million doses ordered by the government, the US vaccine has been approved for use in the UK.

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