A plan for how Covid-19 vaccines will be rolled out across the country was due to be sent to Government last night.
The report by the High Level Vaccine Taskforce will set out the role that doctors, pharmacists and public health nurses will play in administering them.
The report will also make recommendations on whether retired healthcare staff should be deployed to help with administering up to eight million doses of the vaccines.
This was considered by the taskforce as the Government is keen to ensure that the operation does not place unnecessary strains on other areas of the health service.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine comes in large batches, requires two doses, and needs specialised deep freeze storage.
It is expected to be delivered first to 45,000 people in nursing home and residential settings and to healthcare workers.
The Moderna vaccine, due for approval early next month, requires just one dose and can be kept in normal storage meaning pharmacists and GPs are likely to play a greater role in administering it to the wider population.
Each Health Service Executive area will make its own properties available to create vaccine hubs, likely to include old health board offices or facilities, but not schools.
Another big part of the plan will be collecting information for science purposes including the age profile of who receives the jabs, the possible side effects and success rates.
This will require a consent form and work has been undertaken with the Data Protection Commission to ensure it is compliant with existing laws.
A coordinated information campaign is also being planned to ensure widespread uptake of the vaccines.
Latest coronavirus stories
Yesterday evening, the Department of Health was notified of three further deaths related to Covid-19 and 313 new cases of the coronavirus.
There have now been 75,507 confirmed cases and 2,120 virus-related deaths in Ireland.
As of 2pm yesterday, the number of patients in intensive care stood at 35, down one from Thursday.
A plan for how Covid-19 vaccines will be rolled out across the country was due to be sent to Government last night.
