LAST UPDATE | Jul 6th 2021, 10:00 AM

HALF OF IRISH adults are now fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

HSE chief executive Paul Reid confirmed this morning that over 50% of the adult population are now fully vaccinated. 

As of 5 July, 1,823,201 second and final doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in Ireland, as well as a further 72,048 single dose vaccines.

That means a total of 1,895,249 people, or 50.54% of the adult population, are now fully vaccinated.

A further 16.87% of adults are partially vaccinated.

In total, 4,423,158 doses have been administered.

Vaccination efforts have been ramped up following the rapid spread of the Delta variant, which now makes up over 70% of new Covid-19 cases, and this morning registration for people aged between 30 and 34 was brought forward to tomorrow. 

Reid confirmed this morning that almost 14,000 Covid-19 swab tests were done in the community, the highest level since 11 January. He said swabbing has increased by 30% week-on-week. 

“Please do come forward for a test if symptomatic. Not everyone is protected yet,” he said. 

There are now over 50% of the adult population fully vaccinated, with 69% had their Dose 1. A total of 4.42M vaccines administered to date with 245,000 completed last week. We're working hard to protect as many people as quickly as possible. @HSELive

— Paul Reid (@paulreiddublin) July 6, 2021

Despite the ramping up of vaccinations, Ireland is still slightly behind schedule in the rollout.

The Government had initially aimed to have 70% of adults fully vaccinated by the end of June, but had repeatedly said that it would be dependent on supply.

Reid has said that all adults could potentially be vaccinated by August or September if the new vaccine strategy goes according to plan.

This is due to younger age groups now being able to receive the single-dose Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) and AstraZeneca vaccines, as well as an additional one million doses of mRNA vaccines Pfizer and Moderna coming from Romania. 

“Ultimately if we can work through all of that it could bring us right back to the end of August, early September. That’s where it could bring us if everything comes forward,” he said. 

With >50% of adults fully vaccinated & ~69% receiving Dose 1, a major ‘shout-out’ to all involved in @HSELive Vaccination Centres.

Of >4.4M doses administered to date, >2M have been in VCs:

>210k in CityWest
>185k in the Helix
>100k in Galway Racecourse
>90k in City Hall Cork

— Brian MacCraith (@muirtheimhne) July 6, 2021

Yesterday, over 750 pharmacies began vaccinating people between the ages of 18 and 34 with the Janssen vaccine.

120,000 J&J jabs are to be administered in the coming weeks – 50,000 are already in pharmacies while another 80,000 are due to be distributed.

People who don’t “opt in” for a J&J jab can choose to wait for an mRNA vaccine through the online registration portal, which will open for 30-34 year olds tomorrow.

With reporting by Hayley Halpin and Nicky Ryan

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