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Coronavirus vaccinations are taking place in Northern Ireland for the first time.<\/p>\nCoronavirus vaccinations are taking place in Northern Ireland for the first time.<\/p>\n
The first person to receive the jab in the North was a 28-year-old nurse from Dundrum in Co Down.<\/p>\n
Joanna Sloan is sister in charge of Covid vaccination for the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Northern Ireland\u2019s largest.<\/p>\n
Before receiving the jab, she said: \u201cI feel privileged and honored and a little bit emotional that we have got here \u2013 very, very grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n
She felt \u201capprehensive and nervous\u201d beforehand.<\/p>\n
As the vaccine was administered, she said she was thinking: \u201cAt last \u2013 we are here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Sloan added: \u201cThrough everything that healthcare workers [went through], either in hospital or [the] community \u2013 people themselves losing family members, us losing colleagues \u2013 it felt like it was a huge moment and that this was and could possibly be the final hurdle in the fight against Covid.\u201d<\/p>\n
She is a former emergency department nurse and has been in her job for six years.<\/p>\n
The nurse is engaged, but her wedding was postponed due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Ms Sloan has a daughter aged five.<\/p>\n
Afterwards, she said of the jab: \u201cIt did not feel any different than any other immunization that I have had, I did not feel any pain.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said it had been stressful and hard work preparing for the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe worked tirelessly to make sure that people are safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Northern Ireland\u2019s chief medical officer, Dr Michael McBride, said it was a remarkable day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can begin to look to the future with a degree of optimism, with this vaccine and other vaccines and more effective treatments,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully in the future Covid-19 will become a more manageable disease and we will begin the pathway to a more normal life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr McBride added that he did not think this day would come so soon, 10 months after Covid-19 was discovered, as opposed to the more normal 10 years taken to develop vaccines.<\/p>\n
He recalled the sacrifices and harm caused by the virus as well as the number of lives lost, and warned there will be more challenging months ahead.<\/p>\n
The Royal Victoria Hospital\u2019s center for delivering the vaccine is a former storage facility which was converted into a clinical environment within a week.<\/p>\n
Staff worked \u201caround the clock\u201d to prepare, Ms Sloan added.<\/p>\n
She said her daughter, Cailie, was at school and hoped she would be proud to learn that her mother was the first to receive the jab in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
They live in the seaside town of Dundrum with Ms Sloan\u2019s fianc\u00e9 Chris.<\/p>\n
Their wedding was postponed from September and is scheduled for next April.<\/p>\n
Ms Sloan said she hopes there is light at the end of the tunnel for them personally too.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe may get to have our big day after 10 years of waiting.\u201d<\/p>\n
The vaccine will be delivered at seven sites across the North, including the Ulster Hospital\u2019s new emergency department near Belfast, the Seven Towers Leisure Centre in Ballymena in Co Antrim, Antrim Forum leisure center, and the Foyle Arena in Derry.<\/p>\n
Those who will deliver it to the wider population are the first to receive it.<\/p>\n
Residents in care homes and their staff are due to be inoculated before Christmas.<\/p>\n
Stormont Health Minister Robin Swann said: \u201cLet us not underestimate the importance of today and what we are seeing with the start of our vaccination program.\u201d<\/p>\n
He told the BBC\u2019s Good Morning Ulster program: \u201cIt is a game-changer, it is a big day. It is the day we have long been waiting for.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said it should be greeted with optimism but tempered with caution.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the start of a long road to recovery but we are on the first step.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Monday, Mr Swann announced care home residents will also be prioritized in the first phase.<\/p>\n
He said deployment of the vaccine to care homes will proceed in the coming days.<\/p>\n
The minister said officials have been working on the logistical requirements for the Pfizer\/BioNTech vaccine and reached a solution involving mobile teams operating from the different trust vaccination centers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are currently considering how these arrangements might be extended to include over-80s in the community,\u201d Mr Swann added.<\/p>\n
The first doses of the Pfizer\/BioNTech jab arrived in Northern Ireland last week after it was approved by UK regulators.<\/p>\n
It has an efficacy rate of as high as 95 per cent.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a 90-year-old grandmother, originally from Enniskillen in Co Fermanagh, became the first person in the world to have the Pfizer jab outside trial conditions.<\/p>\n
Margaret Keenan has lived in Coventry in England for more than 60 years.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cHopefully it\u2019ll help other people come along and do what I did, and try and do the best to get rid of this terrible thing.\u201d<\/p>\n