Photo: Marc O'Sullivan.
Sarah Mooney
The first shot of a vaccine to protect against Covid-19 has been administered in the Republic this afternoon, marking a new milestone in the coronavirus pandemic.
Annie Lynch, a 79-year-old woman from Dublin, is now the first person in Ireland to be vaccinated against Covid-19 after receiving the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine at St James’s Hospital in Dublin.
Ms Lynch was vaccinated alongside other healthcare workers from the hospital.
“I feel very privileged to be the first person in Ireland to receive the vaccine,” Ms Lynch said.
“Like everyone else I have been waiting for the vaccine and I really feel like there is a bit of hope there now. It’s brilliant that it’s here. Everything was explained very clearly to me beforehand.”
Ms Lynch is currently a resident in the Mercer’s Institute for Successful Ageing at St James’s and lives in Drimnagh, Dublin after being born in Christchurch and growing up in the Liberties.
She is a mother to three children and also has 10 grandchildren, while her husband John passed away in September.
Also vaccinated in St James’s on Tuesday afternoon was Bernie Waterhouse, a clinical nurse manager and the first healthcare worker to receive the vaccine in the Republic.
Working in a designated Covid-19 ward in St James’s Hospital, Ms Waterhouse said she wanted to receive the vaccine “to protect myself, and the people I work with and care for every day, from Covid-19.”
Each person vaccinated was given a vaccine record card, showing the name and batch of the vaccine they have received. They are set to return for their second dose, to be fully protected, in three weeks.
Ms Lynch’s vaccine was the first to be administered by vaccinators at four hospitals across the country on Tuesday.
Vaccines are being administered at St James’s Hospital and Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, Cork University Hospital, and University Hospital Galway, after the first delivery of 10,000 doses were received by the HSE on December 26th.
