“I feel very privileged to be the first person in Ireland to receive the vaccine.”
Annie Lynch, a 79 year-old woman from Dublin, has become the first person in Ireland to be vaccinated against COVID-19. She got the vaccine today at St James’s Hospital in Dublin 8, alongside healthcare workers from the hospital who were also vaccinated.
Bernie Waterhouse is an Clinical Nurse Manager working in a designated COVID-19 ward in St James Hospital, and is the first healthcare worker in Ireland to get the COVID vaccine. She said as she received her vaccine: “I wanted to get the vaccine to protect myself, and the people I work with and care for every day, from COVID-19.”
Annie’s vaccine was the first Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine to be administered by vaccinators at 4 hospitals across the country – St James’s Hospital and Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, Cork University Hospital, and University Hospital Galway. The vaccines given today were from the first delivery of 10,000 doses received by the HSE on December 26th.
Annie lives in Drimnagh in Dublin, and was born in Christchurch and grew up in the Liberties. Her husband, John sadly passed away in September. She has 3 children and 10 grandchildren. Annie is currently a resident in the Mercer’s Institute for Successful Ageing at St. James’s.
Annie said today, “I feel very privileged to be the first person in Ireland to receive the vaccine. Like everyone else I have been waiting for the vaccine and I really feel like there is a bit of hope there now. It’s brilliant that it’s here. Everything was explained very clearly to me beforehand.”
Annie was given a HSE vaccine information leaflet, along with more detailed manufacturer’s patient information leaflet, before getting the vaccine. Afterwards, each person vaccinated was given a vaccine record card, showing the name and batch of the vaccine they have received. They will each return for their second dose, to be fully protected, in three weeks.
