500,000 COVID-19 vaccine milestone reached in West/North West

The vaccination centres in the West and North West have hit the milestone of delivering 500,000 vaccines since the first vaccination centre opened at the end of February.

Paul Hooton, Saolta Executive Lead for the rollout of the vaccination programme in the West and North West said, “This is a fantastic achievement and a tribute to the incredible team of staff we have working at our six vaccination centres and a number of satellite centres in the region. I would like to thank all our vaccinators, pharmacists, site managers, registration and administration staff, the student nurses and the many support staff including security, cleaners and wellness checkers. We are also indebted to the members of the Defence Forces who have provided invaluable and immeasurable support to the vaccination programme, along with the many volunteers from the Civil Defence, Order of Malta, St John Ambulance and the Irish Red Cross.

“Staff from LYIT in Letterkenny also ran a very successful satellite vaccination centre in Carndonagh, County Donegal up until last week and are currently working towards opening a new satellite centre in Burtonport. We also ran a satellite centre in Clifden over the summer months supported by staff from the Ballybrit centre in Galway and this week we opened a satellite centre in Belmullet, supported by staff from the Breaffy House Resort vaccination centre. There have been many challenges along the way and to each the staff stepped up and excelled.

“And to all the people of Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Mayo and Galway, I would like to say thank you for your overwhelming support and in the early days for your patience when we were still figuring out the queueing system and timings. Your co-operation was very much appreciated.

“Being able to provide the COVID-19 vaccine to so many people and to play some role in moving on from the pandemic has been an absolute privilege.

“There are still plenty of opportunities to get the vaccine and we are running walk-in clinics every week to make it as easy as possible.”