THE Clare COVID-19 Vaccination Centre is relocating from the West County Hotel back to the old outpatients department in the grounds of Ennis Hospital, opening for business on Friday of next week, February 25.
The decision to relocate has been taken as the vaccination programme enters a new and steadier phase nationally, following the period of intense demand for booster doses prior to Christmas, amid the spike in transmission of the contagious Omicron variant of SARS CoV-2.
A HSE spokesperson said, “As the relaxation of pandemic restrictions continues, Treacy’s West County Hotel, in common with hospitality businesses nationally, is in a position to resume regular business activities, and we wish them well in the time ahead, and sincerely thank them for providing UL Hospitals Group with the space necessary to deliver a large scale vaccination programme for the local population.
“We anticipate that the centre at Ennis Hospital, which previously served as the centre from November 20th to December 22nd, 2021, has the capacity to comfortably meet demand for booster doses in this latest phase of the national vaccination programme.”
To date in the Mid-West, there have been more than 515,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses delivered by vaccination teams in UL Hospitals Group and HSE Mid West Community Healthcare (not including the work of GPs, pharmacies and the National Ambulance Service). This is part of a national vaccine delivery total in excess of ten-million doses.
The Clare COVID-19 vaccination centre at Ennis Hospital will open on Friday morning, February 25, and run alongside the centres in Limerick City (Scoil Carmel) and North Tipperary (Abbey Court Hotel, Nenagh). Ennis Hospital is well served with free car parking, including parking spaces for people with disabilities.
Noreen Spillane, Chief Operations Officer, UL Hospitals Group, said: “We are very grateful to management and staff at Treacy’s West County Hotel for all their assistance to our vaccination teams during the pandemic.
“Many thousands of people have attended this Ennis hotel for vaccination over the past 12 months, and the hotel has become as much a symbol of recovery from the pandemic as it was a landmark social hub for the people of County Clare prior to 2020 and this era of COVID-19. As the hotel prepares to resume its regular hospitality operations, we wish them well, and thank them for their assistance.”
All three vaccination centres are offering a combination of walk-in clinics for Dose 1 and Dose 2 vaccines for anyone 12 years and over, and Booster doses for the 16+ years age group. It is also possible to book a Booster dose appointment online herehttps://bit.ly/3qfRcbs
Walk-in clinics are added to the Vaccine Centre timetables all the time, and anyone wishing to receive a primary vaccine or a booster dose should avail of this opportunity to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Check here regularly for details, and please note that if you’re eligible to attend a walk-in clinic, there is no requirement to attend a centre in your county of residence.
For scheduled primary Dose 1 vaccinations, the online portal is open here for parents/guardians to register children aged 5-15 years, and for anyone aged 16 and older.