First public COVID-19 vaccination in Kerry taking place today

The first public COVID-19 vaccination in Kerry will take place in Tralee today.

The mass vaccination centre at Kerry Sports Academy on the Munster Technological University campus in Dromtacker will, from today, be used to vaccinate members of the public.

It marks the beginning of the use of the centre for people aged 16-69 who are at very high risk from COVID-19.

The vaccination centre at the MTU has already been used to vaccinate some frontline healthcare workers, but today it will be used to vaccinate a member of the public for the first time.

The vaccination rollout is moving on to cohort four of the government's allocation strategy, which is defined as those aged 16-69 who are at a very high risk of severe COVID-19 due to underlying conditions.

The people in this cohort will be given an appointment, and do not need to register for vaccination.

Only those with an appointment will be permitted into the centre.

When attending an appointment, people must bring a form of ID with them and should wear short sleeves.

Members of the general public who are vaccinated at the MTU centre will be given the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Máire Flynn is the lead co-ordinator for the Kerry Sports Academy public vaccination centre.

She says the whole appointment from start to finish should take between 30-45 minutes, but can take longer if people have medical needs or if they want to ask any questions.

She describes what people will experience when they show up for their vaccination appointment at the centre.

Máire Flynn, who's also the Director of Nursing at Killarney Community Hospital, says 2021 is a year of hope.