Ireland reaches half million vaccinations

Ireland has given out half a million coronavirus vaccinations about two months after the first inoculation.

Prime Minister Micheal Martin says the health department announced the figure on Saturday. It includes both first and second doses and comes 63 days after the first shot was given to a Dublin senior citizen.

"Good news," Martin tweeted. "The vaccines are having a significant impact on mortality and serious illness." Ireland has experienced a spike in infections at the start of the year after getting through the early days of the pandemic.

With a population of 4.8 million, Ireland has reported 222,169 cases and 4,405 confirmed deaths from the coronavirus. It's one of the 10 European countries where the British variant of the virus is dominant.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)