Nursing home vaccinations commence in Tipperary

Resident Frances Hearne and Clinical Nurse Manager Nessa Merrigan receiving the first dose of the vaccine earlier today at the Community Hospital of the Assumption, Thurles.

Residents and staff at both the Hospital of the Assumption in Thurles and the Cottage Nursing Home in Clonmel are receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech jab today.

Vaccinations at Tipperary nursing homes had been due to begin early next week under a draft HSE schedule, but the start date has been brought forward to today.

90-year-old Frances Hearne, from Mullinahone, was the first person at the Community Hospital of the Assumption to be vaccinated, a day after her third great grandchild was born in Clonmel.

Tipperary Fianna Fáil TD Jackie Cahill says it’s a good day in the battle against Covid-19.

“It’s the first sign of starting to win this war against the virus and hopefully we can see an escalation in the roll out of the vaccine in the next couple of days and weeks and that our most vulnerable people will receive the vaccine as quickly as possible.”

“While that mightn’t bring down the numbers immediately hopefully it will have a serious impact on the amount of lives that would be lost to the coronavirus.”