Ireland lowers COVID-19 vaccine age to 12 to boost strong takeup

Ireland became the latest European Union member state to commit to offering COVID-19 vaccines to children aged 12-15 as it opened its strongly subscribed programme to 16 and 17-year olds on Tuesday. Ireland's vaccine programme is currently running at one of the fastest rates in Europe, with almost 70% of its adult population fully vaccinated and more than 84% partially protected with the first of two doses - greatly reducing the rate of serious illness and death from COVID-19.