First Minister: Pace of ROI's vaccination programme a 'headache'

The First Minister says the disparity in pace in the vaccination rollout between Northern Ireland and the Republic will present challenges.

Arlene Foster was speaking at the daily Covid-19 media briefing on Thursday.

The First Minister said the fact that Northern Ireland will be completed before Ireland "does bring headaches."

She said: "It's very clear that we are going to be finished our vaccination programme and the Republic of Ireland will still be in the midst of theirs.

"We will have to hear from our Chief Medical Officer in relation tot that whether we need to take any actions."

By Friday it is expected that over 600,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines will have been administered in Northern Ireland.

While the rollout in the Republic is thought to be slower.

Mrs Foster said she has some concerns:

"If you have people who are interacting with people who have been vaccinated... it becomes less effective as it were because the virus learns that and then we would be in difficulty so I think there will be a need to look at this in the future.

"I very much hope that we can continue in Northern Ireland to go in the same trajectory that we are in relation to hospital numbers and the transmission of cases.

"We are awaiting data in relation to the transmissibility of the virus when you have the vaccine, that will be really important but already it appears our hospital numbers have gone down, particularly in the over 80s and I think that that is very significant."