Community pharmacies in Northern Ireland have delivered more than 250,000 Covid vaccinations.

The milestone includes primary and booster jabs since the pharmacy sector began administering Covid vaccines in March. More than 250 community pharmacies are providing Moderna booster jabs.

Community Pharmacy Northern Ireland chief executive Gerard Greene said “the significant milestone is a credit to the work and dedication of our community pharmacy teams.”

“The network joined the vaccination programme back in March and since then has been working incredibly hard to maximise the levels of protection against Covid-19 across our communities,” he said.

“Administering 250,000 vaccines in nine months shows the value of accessible and convenient community pharmacy locations and community pharmacy teams have played a significant role in getting overall numbers to where they are today.”

More than 60 pharmacies provided over 11,000 people with Covid vaccines or boosters during the recent Community Pharmacy Big Jab Weekend.

Mr Greene appealed to the public to be patient with pharmacy teams as they try to dispense as many medicines as they can in the run-up to the Christmas and new year holiday periods as it could “affect the availability of the Covid-19 vaccination service at some community pharmacies.”

Pictured (L-R) are community pharmacist, Ryan McKinstry; pharmacy team member, Claire McQuade, Gerard Greene; pharmacy team member, Marjorie McCowan and community pharmacist Liam Grimley.