More than 500 staff at University Hospital Galway will have received the Pfizer BioNTech Covid 19 vaccine by close of business tomorrow evening (Friday ) offering them and their patients protection against the deadly virus.
The vaccination process will continue to rollout over the coming weeks and months as the country prepares for its largest every vaccination programme, which commenced in the west on Tuesday with the vaccination of Lorna Quinn, Assistant Director of Nursing and peer vaccinator at the hospital.
The vaccine was one of the 10,000 doses received by the HSE on December 26. By the end of this week, more than 500 staff will be vaccinated at UHG and the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccination will continue over the coming weeks.
The vaccine cannot come too early for the west’s health facilities with the news yesterday that Mayo University Hospital is currently managing an outbreak of Covid 19 with two wards closed as the hospital treats 30 new cases of the virus.
Tony Canavan, CEO of the Saolta Group which has overall responsibility for the acute hospitals and the west and north west said that the first vaccination was a milestone.
“We are delighted that we have commenced the roll-out of this critical vaccination programme on the University Hospital Galway site.
“The vaccines will be delivered in stages and we will be extending the vaccination programme across each of the hospitals in the Saolta Group as the vaccine supply becomes available.
“This is a huge vaccination programme and our priority it to provide it to our staff as quickly as possible in the safest possible manner”.
