NI will be in lockdown in January or February Professor of Global Public Health Devi Sridhar tells Stormont health committee

Dec 3, 2020

Dear reader

The coronavirus vaccine continued to dominate the news agenda with a timetable on the proposed roll-out in Northern Ireland revealed for the first time.

There will be five phases in the roll-out, with care home residents and staff, those aged 80-and-over, and health service staff, first in line.

Phase one will cover approximately 200,000 people while the next phase will begin in January or February. However, it could be the summer before the entire population here receives the vaccine.

Health Minister Robin Swann faced scrutiny about the vaccine rollout at the Stormont Health Committee on Thursday, with Sinn Fein MLA highlighting problems with the flu vaccine in Northern Ireland.

However, Mr Swann insisted that the flu vaccine roll-out had gone well, and predicted it would be the same scenario for the Covid-19 jabs.

Another 11 deaths relating to Covid-19 were recorded in Northern Ireland on Thursday. The number of new cases recorded in the last 24 hours was 456.

All eyes will be on the Stormont Executive on Thursday night, with an announcement due about the possible lifting of restrictions when the current circuit-breaker is due to end in a week’s time.

Alistair Bushe
Editor

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