Ireland to receive first Astrazeneca vaccines on Feb. 8 -minister

Ireland will receive its first shots of the AstraZeneca and Oxford University's COVID-19 vaccine a week early on the week beginning Feb. 8 after its approval by Europe's medicines regulator on Friday, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said.

"The contract was to get it on the week of February 15 but I can confirm now for the first time that it's been agreed that we'll get it in the week of February 8," Donnelly told the Newstalk radio station.

He added that Irish regulators will decide in a few days if the vaccine should be given to people over the age of 65 after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) concluded there were not yet enough results for those over the age of 55 to determine how well the vaccine would work for this group.