The Department of Health says the Johnson and Johnson vaccine will become a fundamental part of the county’s vaccination programme, from next month, when large quantities of the vaccine will start arriving here.

Thus far the J&J vaccine has largely been used for essential workers and sector based programmes because the doses we have received thus far expire on 11 August.

The Department’s Dr Nicolas Crisp says the new doses that will arrive do not have short expiry dates, which means it can be rolled out to the general population.

The doses will be distributed to especially rural communities.