Health Minister Stephen Donnelly says people in their 40s could get vaccinated in June

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has said he expects people aged in their 40s will get vaccinated in June.

Minister Donnelly has also said it is “entirely possible” that the age limits on the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines will be dropped further later in the year as more information about the vaccines are known.

Both the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines have been recommended for use for those aged over 50.

He said: “We are learning in terms of the effectiveness of these vaccines as they are rolled out around the world and what we are finding – the information coming in and the latest information available to NIAC for example – is that they are very, very safe for those over 50.

“It is entirely possible they will come back as there is more information available saying, ‘by the way the same applies to the over-40s, the over-30s etc.’”

People queuing outside the Helix Vaccination centre (DCU) in north Dublin (Gareth Chaney/Collins)

Minister Donnelly said people in their 30s and 40s can expect to get a jab later in the summer.

He said: “If you were to estimate – again these things change on a weekly basis, but if you were in your 40s like I am, I would be expecting to be vaccinated sometime in June.”

However, he stopped short of guaranteeing the government would reach its targets of vaccinating 82% of people with at least one Covid-19 vaccine by the end of June.

He said people were focusing “very hard” on this specific date and said “the vaccine programme is not about a race..”

However, this was a date that the government set itself.

Speaking to Newstalk, he said: “It just so happens that, based on the supplies as they are coming in, if they continue to come in as agreed with the pharmaceutical companies, then four in every five adults who wants a vaccine can be offered a vaccine by the end of June – but there is no magic about June 31 [sic].

“On July 1 we will still be vaccinating, we will be doing tens of thousands of people.

“The good news yesterday in terms of Jansen (J&J) and AstraZeneca is that we are still on track and it means that we can keep getting the vaccines out at the speed they come into the country.”