Ireland is in line for 2.2 million J&J shots this year but rollout is paused as US authorities look into six cases of brain blood clotting

Deputy chief medical officer says maintaining high level of public confidence in vaccine rollout is crucial

Overall spend on protective equipment to prevent spread of Covid-19 came to €896 million, new figures show

When the incidence of Covid-19 is low, the potential harms to 20-29 year olds from the vaccine outweighed the benefits of preventing ICU admissions through vaccination, the MHRA found

New data has led to a change in policy across Europe on which age cohorts are safe to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine after reports emerged of rare blood clotting events. Will it affect Ireland’s vaccine rollout?

After a year of trauma and disruption things are finally looking up, with 3.9 million doses of the four licensed vaccines set to be delivered between now and the end of June

Concerns about queue-skipping have been raised in recent weeks, but healthcare organisations say they have been working off guidance from the HSE, which includes a wide range of staff under the heading of frontline worker.

Ireland has added four more countries – France, Belgium, Italy and Luxembourg – to the list of countries from which travellers must book into a hotel for a period of 12 days

For all the gnashing of teeth over schools and vaccinations, the figures show that the vaccine delivery rate is set to surpass projections by a distance

Rapid antigen tests will be trialled in third-level settings as Leo Varadkar encourages businesses to consider them as part of their reopening plans

The government’s plan to manage the pandemic has been built on the idea that if it gets the messaging right, all will be well. The science of behaviour tells us this is not true

With the North beginning to open up its economy, there are concerns that an influx of unvaccinated shoppers from the Republic may pose a threat to health there, while at the same time businesses in the South are worried that they are about to lose out

The regulator is likely to offer choice between full-time office or hybrid models of working, with contentious desk-sharing practices not ruled out

Politicians will ask health service about data underpinning the programme and the move to an age-based model at a hearing later this month

Teachers, understandably upset at being bumped from the priority list, have been subjected to a public backlash, and the divisions sown could well outlast the pandemic

Department offers tender for company to streamline government’s coronavirus strategy after months of leaks and contradictory communications

Fairness matters, and the rollout risks being undermined by a sense of injustice at preferential treatment for those in the know

Grandstanding backbenchers and the shrill indignation of professional groups must be ignored if the most vulnerable are to be protected as rapidly as possible and the vaccine rollout simplified and speeded up

Political wrangling and mishaps give the impression of a government at odds with itself, which helps no one

We can turn this around, and it doesn’t have to mean living in lockdown for most of the year. It means learning from successful counties and pushing Covid cases down to low numbers