Age Restrictions Lifted for AstraZeneca And Johnson And Johnson Vaccines

Both the AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson vaccines are to be made available for everyone, regardless of age.

NIAC made the recommendation to government last night - the jabs had previously only been given to those over 50. The gap between doses of AstraZeneca is also set to be cut in half - from eight to four weeks.
This would allow many more people in their 60s to be vaccinated faster.

Meanwhile it's emerged that the HSE has paid private labs almost 250 million euro for Covid-19 testing during the pandemic.
According to freedom of information figures, the bill for January was nearly 36 million euro.
The HSE says commercial providers were hired when there was too much demand on hospitals and state labs.