IRISH PHARMACISTS WILL begin administering Covid-19 vaccines from today.

People over the age of 50 who have not yet received a vaccine will be eligible to get a jab from their local pharmacy today.

More than 1,000 pharmacists are expected to administer vaccines to members of the public, and appointments can be made on pharmacists’ individual websites rather than via the HSE portal.

A small number of Johnson & Johnson vaccines are to be made available to pharmacies to vaccinate those who have missed out on a vaccine or who have not been able to get to a vaccination centre.

Some mRNA vaccines could be made available at a later date.

Pharmacists are due to get €25 per vaccine dose administered, the same figure as GPS, plus €10 for each patient who is entered into the system.

Darragh O’Loughlin, Secretary General of the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) said earlier this month that the move would prevent people from having to travel long distances to vaccination centres.

“People have been clamouring to get vaccinated in their local pharmacy, by their local pharmacist, and there’s been a lot of public frustration that’s just taken so long to get the vaccines delivered to pharmacies,” he said.

“But certainly the objective now is to vaccinate people in their local community, rather than them all having to travel to vaccination centres.”