‘These centres will be ready’

PLAN Mass vaccination centre at Hotel Kilmore

The general population will soon be offered COVID-19 jabs at a new vaccination centre to be established at the Hotel Kilmore in Cavan Town.

Formal confirmation of the move was given by the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly on Monday, February 15.

The HSE identified suitable locations with a view to establishing a vaccination site in the county.

Now 37 centres have been confirmed by the HSE, with at least one in every county. The centres aim to support the vaccination of the general population in a safe and efficient manner.

Currently vaccines are being administered in healthcare settings and by GPs but many people will be offered their vaccination in these centres, having self-registered online, the HSE says.

The Country Club section of the Hotel Kilmore, which has its own separate entrance, will be used for the purpose of delivering vaccinations.

The deal to use the site was agreed last week with the hotel owners, Ross and Kate Mealiff.

“The Hotel Kilmore is happy to facilitate the vaccination roll-out within our Country Club suite. We are happy to work to work with the HSE on this for as long as its needed,”Mr Mealiff told the Celt.

The fit out of the facility is already underway.

Also in the region, vaccinations will be delivered at the Hillgrove Hotel in Monaghan; the Primary Care Centre in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim; Longford Slashers GAA grounds in Longford Town; and Simonstown GAA Club in Navan, Co Meath.

There will also be five vaccination centres in Cork, four in Dublin and two each in Kerry, Tipperary, Westmeath and Wicklow.

In total 6,000 vaccinators have been trained to date.

The identification of mass vaccination sites is seen as a ramping up of the vaccination programme nationally. At this point 1.8% of the population have been fully vaccinated.

The programme for vaccination will now move to the general population starting with those aged over 85 years.

According to HSE figures, 175,238 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered by the HSE up to last Friday. There were also 89,999 second doses given. There were 10,321 AstraZeneca doses administered last week.

Critically important

Once vaccine supplies increase, the government hope it will be possible to deliver 250,000 vaccinations a week.

Cavan-Monaghan Fianna Fáil Deputy Brendan Smith welcomed confirmation of the Hotel Kilmore being used.

“The roll-out of this vaccination programme is critically important in the fight against the virus. I wish the HSE and all their healthcare partners, GPs, nurses and pharmacists every success in this important work,” stated Deputy Smith.

Minister Donnelly meanwhile thanked the HSE for their ongoing work in developing these vaccination centres across the country. “These centres will be ready well in advance of vaccine supply when they will be used as part of our programme. People can expect to see these vaccination centres ready and waiting in their county,” said Minister Donnelly.

“We have always said the vaccination programme would only be limited by the availability and reliability of supply in these early stages of the programme. In the coming months supply will increase substantially and we will see these centres operating to full capacity and administering vaccines to the general population, following the Government priority list,” concluded the Minister.