Health Minister: NI in 'good position' to maintain vaccine supply

The Health Minister insists Northern Ireland's vaccination programme is still on track, despite fears over vaccine supply.

Last week a batch due to arrive in England from India was delayed but the head of the rollout here says that would only cause a 'slight delay.'

Patricia Donnelly insists the mass vaccination site at the SSE Arena will open on Monday as planned.

Robin Swann says having access to the UK's deliveries puts Northern Ireland in a strong position:

"We've always kept a watchful eye on supplies, one of our small setbacks was that we lost that additional five million that was due to come from India last week.

"So it's not just about supplies coming from Europe, we're now looking at a worldwide vaccine supply programme and being part of the UK buying power where we actually pre-bought seven different vaccines, I think stands Northern Ireland in good stead for future supplies."

And Mr Swann also revealed the Moderna jab will become available to Northern Ireland in the coming weeks:

"We should hopefully within the next number of weeks see Moderna, a third vaccine coming into our vaccination programme which gives us an additional string to our bow as well."