The country is facing into its longest lockdown yet, with more months of restrictions as the health service struggles to cope with thousands of Covid-19 cases at the same time as it races to vaccinate millions of people. Data supports anecdotal evidence that the health service is increasingly relying on such derogations in order to staff hospitals during the third wave of the virus. His spokesperson said there is "no distinction" between public or private hospital staff in the roll-out of vaccines to frontline healthcare workers. "The hospital groups have teams who decide on the allocation of vaccines to hospitals in their areas, based on the risk facing different staff. Last night, in another sign of how stretched the health service has become, the Department of Health announced that placements for over 2.000 student nurses and midwives were being temporarily suspended.

Source: Irish Independent January 17, 2021 02:34 UTC