UP to 350 people a minute were booking in for their Covid-19 vaccine yesterday, the First Minister has told MLAs.
Vaccinations have now opened up to the over 50s.
Asked by an MLA how “crucial” the vaccination programme had been in allowing for some restrictions to be lifted, Arlene Foster said work is underway to see what impact the rollout was having on hospital admissions.
“Yesterday was a phenomenal piece of booking online,” said the First Minister.
“The Health Minister tells us that at one point it was 350 people-per-minute that were actually taking up the slots.
“So that’s a good indicator that people are very much wanting to avail of the vaccine.”
In the first three hours of the slots opening for people aged over 50, 30,000 people had booked vaccines, she said.
On Tuesday, the Department of Health reported one further death in the previous 24 hours and 164 deaths across the North of Ireland.
No further deaths had been reported in the Derry City and Strabane District Council area, with 13 new positive cases, a slight rise of two on figures given for Sunday.
