Long queues at vaccine centres across the State as hundreds turn up for boosters

Long queues formed at vaccine centres around the country on Tuesday morning as hundreds of people turned up for their Covid-19 booster shots.

Hundreds queued outside the National Show Centre in Swords, Co Dublin, on Tuesday morning as people arrived early to queue for a booster.

There were multiple orderly queueing lines outside the centre, which allowed the centre to cope with the amount of people awaiting a shot.

There were more than 30 people in each of six lines queueing outside the centre mid-morning. By 11am, the car park was full and cars were being turned away, although people continued to park outside.

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The National Show Centre was administering boosters of the Moderna vaccine.

Last week, Moderna accounted for 35 per cent of booster shots administered, while the rest were Pfizer, according to HSE figures. Up to then, the use of the Moderna jab was negligible compared with that of Pfizer.

The use of Moderna is confined to those aged 30 and over; under-30s will be administered the Pfizer vaccine.

Social media users also reported long queues outside the Fairyhouse Racecourse vaccine centre in Co Meath on Tuesday.

One Twitter user said it took her two hours to get inside the centre and advised others to “allow three hours from beginning to end”, while another person said it took him 90 minutes.

The HSE confirmed the queues for Fairyhouse were two hours long in a post on the HSELive Twitter account.

The HSE said the queues for Abbeycourt Hotel in Co Tipperary would take approximately one hour, while at the Offaly vaccine centre there was no queue.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said on Monday the gap between the second and third – or booster – dose of Covid vaccines would be cut to three months to accelerate the booster programme.

So far, more than 1.2 million booster doses have been administered, including 97,000 third doses to people who are immunocompromised, latest figures show.

The HSE is currently offering boosters to people aged 50 and older, those living in a nursing home or a long-term healthcare facility, healthcare workers, and people aged 16 to 49 with an underlying condition.

It is expected all people aged 40 and over will become eligible for their booster jab before the end of the year.