Around 1,800 frontline medical workers are receiving a Covid-19 vaccine as part of a targeted vaccination programme this weekend.
GPs and GP practice nurses are being administered their first dose of the Moderna vaccine.
It is the first time it has been used in Ireland.
Vaccination centres have been established in Dublin, Laois and Galway.
About 800 doctors and nurses from across Leinster are being inoculated at a facility in St Mary’s Hospital in the Phoenix Park in Dublin.
The facility is being operated by the National Ambulance Service.
1,800 GPs and GP practice nurses are getting a Covid-19 vaccine today as part of a mass vaccination this weekend. They are getting the first Moderna vaccine doses. 800 at this centre at St Mary’s Hospital the Phoenix Park in Dublin. 500 in Portlaoise and 500 in Galway @RTENews pic.twitter.com/kJsa1dPeYB
— Fergal O’Brien (@Fergal_O_Brien) January 16, 2021
Another 500 will be given the vaccine in Portlaoise, with a further 500 medical workers getting vaccinated in Galway.
“It is going extremely well so far,” HSE Chief Paul Reid told RTÉ’s Saturday with Katie Hannon.
“There are ten bays in each site, vaccinating between 40 and 60 people per hour.”
He said looking forward to the first quarter of 2021, the primary cohorts to receive the vaccine were nursing home staff and residents.
Mr Reid said next would be around 150,000 healthcare workers and then the 500,000 older people not living in long-term care facilities.
Moderna vaccine being administered today at the @AmbulanceNAS HQ. The vaccine is administered by HSE peer vaccinators. The vaccination of GPs in underway in mass vaccination clinics around the country, in Dublin, Galway and Portlaoise. #CovidVaccine #HoldFirm pic.twitter.com/rpXqBNZ9f1
— HSE Ireland (@HSELive) January 16, 2021