Tag Archives: Covid-19

PHARMACIES in Clare have been helping to give a shot in the arm to the national vaccine roll out effort. A number of pharmacies throughout the county have recently started administering the Covid-19 vaccines as part of the national programme. A total of 17 pharmacies spanning across the entire county from Kilkee to Corbally have begun offering the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine, also known as Janssen. Among them is Rochford’s Pharmacies with branches in Ennis and Corofin. Pharmacist Brendan Rochford said there has already been a lot of interest from the public in getting the jab. He says that the vaccination service was quick to take off at the pharmacy. “We already had a list of people who booked their appointment before we even received the vaccines last Thursday evening, so we started our first administrations as soon as possible on Friday morning.” He added, “We are delighted to be able to play our small part in the rollout …

BISHOP of Killaloe, Fintan Monahan, has asked parish priests and pastoral councils not to set dates for communions and confirmations in the Diocese “for the near future”. It follows confirmation, received by the organisation representing Catholic bishops, that the government’s forthcoming guidance documents will expressly advise against these ceremonies. Writing to parents, priests and schools on Wednesday, Bishop Monahan said that “in view of the letter received from the HSE last week, the strong recommendation of NPHET… and the clear advice from the Taoiseach’s Office, I believe it would be very unwise to celebrate the sacraments in the coming weeks”. The Bishop acknowledged that cancelling these important occasions will be “very inconvenient at such short notice” and he asked for “patience and understanding”, in the interests of public health and safety. The Bishop’s letter also said that: “Because of the vulnerability of the virus situation and the evolving nature of the whole process it would, in my view be best …

ALMOST 40,000 vaccines against Covid-19 were delivered by the UL Hospitals’ Group over the last two weeks, new figures have revealed.  The group delivered 110,127 doses of vaccine across the Mid-West up to the close of business on Tuesday, June 2, according to figures obtained by the Clare Champion.  It achieved a significant milestone by clocking up 150,000 vaccine doses on Wednesday since the regional programme got underway on January 4. This figure does not include the vaccines delivered by colleagues in HSE Mid-West Community Healthcare, the National Ambulance Service and General Practitioners. Pharmacists are also delivering vaccines from this week. In recent times, the group has been aware of a number of instances in which SMS text message appointment confirmations have directed people to centres other than those closest to their homes. Similar incidents have been reported in other parts of the country over the past few days.  The group has been working to identify and contact people who …

SHANNON woman Aisling O’Loughlin has had her Instagram account removed, after repeatedly posting what has been described as “harmful misinformation” regarding Covid-19. In a statement, Facebook, which owns Instagram, said, “Aisling O’Loughlin’s Instagram account has been removed from our platform for repeatedly sharing harmful misinformation and fact-checked hoaxes related to Covid-19 and the vaccines. We are taking aggressive steps to fight harmful misinformation about Covid-19 and approved vaccines and remove violating content that is brought to our attention. During the pandemic, we removed 16 million pieces of this type of content and work with 80 fact-checking organisations, including TheJournal.ie, to debunk and add warning labels to other false claims. We are also running an online vaccine information campaign by labelling every post regarding the vaccines with the latest accurate information and directing people across our platforms to the HSE website.”

ALMOST 120,000 doses of vaccines against Covid-19 have been delivered across the Mid-West, the UL Hospitals’ Group has revealed. In the week ending Sunday June 6th, a total of 9,787 doses of Covid-19 vaccine were administered in the group’s Covid-19 Vaccination Centres in Treacy’s West County Hotel, Ennis, 2,001, and the Radisson Blu Hotel Limerick, 7,786. This is in addition to the delivery of 110,127 doses of vaccine across the Mid-West up to the close of business on Tuesday, June 2. Of this amount, 77,777 doses were delivered at the Radisson Blu Meelick; 18,167 doses at Treacy’s West County Hotel, Ennis and 14,183 doses at the Abbey Court Hotel, Nenagh. Vaccinations at the Radisson Blu ceased on Saturday afternoon, June 5th. The Limerick area vaccination centre has been relocated to Limerick Racecourse at Patrickswell, Co Limerick, where it opened to the public last Tuesday. With a maximum capacity of 46 vaccination booths, the Limerick Racecourse centre will run alongside the …

BALLINA Riverside Swimming Pool will reopen under strict Covid-19 guidelines this Saturday, June 12. Pool manager, Paddy Collins, has been given the green light to operate the outdoor heated swimming pool during June, July and August. “It is great to get the pool open again, particularly to provide a place where it is very safe for young children to swim, said Mr Collins. “There are a lot of tourists around in Ballina and Killaloe at the moment. Once people see the lifeguard flag flying high, they know we are open again.” However, Mr Collins has also confirmed numbers will be limited per session to comply with HSE guidelines. In line with Covid-19 guidelines, the two metre social distancing requirement will be strictly enforced. There will also be restricted use of changing rooms and showers. All swimmers will have to sign a form on arrival providing contact tracing information on entry. Like last season, three sessions will operate at weekends. The …

Chamber chief and publican believes new reopening regime better than last year’s A NEW chapter in the Covid recovery story begins on Monday, when restaurants and pubs can begin outdoor service once again. As visitors to Ennis on weekend evenings during May would have observed, certain pubs have been giving takeaway services for some time, but from Monday people can stay and consume their drinks in the outdoor sections of pub grounds. For those without outdoor areas but not doing take away, it will be the first time to open in 2021, although indoor drinking and dining won’t resume until July 5. Publican and President of Ennis Chamber of Commerce Darragh McAllister is planning to reopen Lucas’ Bar on Parnell Street on Monday. Delighted to be finally getting the chance to do so, he admitted to a certain level of apprehension too. “We’re over the moon, but yeah, there are a few nerves as well. It’s a bit like the …

THE rain may have been falling, but that didn’t dampen the spirits at Clare’s hotels, B&Bs, guest houses and self-catering accommodation on Wednesday as they welcomed guests for the first time this year with the easing of Covid-19 restrictions. “It’s an exciting day, it really is, you can feel it around the place,” Sharon Malone, Falls Hotel marketing and digital media manager told The Clare Champion. “Everybody is back in their uniforms, some who haven’t seen each other in quite a while, and everything looks fantastic. Even the rain has made the flowers outside look so fresh and colourful, everything looks brand new. “We had training in the hotel last week which brought the teams back together and, it’s funny, but by the end of it you could tell it had just lifted everybody’s spirits and focused everybody again on getting back to doing what we enjoy doing. “We’re lucky that we have most of our core crew coming back …