A public information campaign about the rollout of the community Covid-19 vaccination programme for those aged over 70 will begin this weekend.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly confirmed that the rollout, starting first with those aged over 85, will begin in February.
It follows authorisation of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine by the European Commission. The National Immunisation Committee will meet this weekend to finalise their guidance for the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
They are expected to allow its use for people over the age of 65 in line with the European Medicines Agency recommendation despite there not being enough data from vaccine trials to know precisely how effective the vaccine will be in this age group.