Northern Ireland’s Arlene Foster receives first vaccine dose in Fermanagh constituency

Arlene Foster gets her first Covid vaccination in Co Fermanagh from local GP Dr John Porteous (PA)

Northern Ireland’s First Minister received her first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine today in her Co Fermanagh constituency.

The DUP leader was given an AstraZeneca jab by a GP at the Castle Park leisure centre in Lisnaskea, Fermanagh, on Saturday morning.

The 50-year-old politician became eligible for the vaccine earlier this month when Northern Ireland’s programme opened to the 50-and-over cohort.

Northern Ireland’s vaccine rollout is slightly behind the other three nations of the UK, with the BBC reporting that 38 per cent of the population has been vaccinated, compared to 44.6 per cent in England, 43 per cent in Scotland and 42.9 per cent in Wales.

As of Friday, 825,310 vaccines had been administered in Northern Ireland, 711, 673 of which were first doses and 113, 637 were second doses.

The region is on course to offer first jabs to the entire adult population, 1.4 million people, by July.

Posting about her vaccination on Twitter, Mrs Forster said she was “delighted to take my turn and get the vaccine”.

Outside the vaccination centre, she said: “It was very painless, very well organised and very quick.

She added: “There’s something very special about being able to come to your hometown and get your vaccine.”

She also encouraged all those offered a jab to take the opportunity, “so that as a society we can move forward because this has been a very difficult year for so many people and the hope that the vaccine gives is very strong”.

In an interview published in Northern Irish newspaper The News Letter today, Mrs Foster discussed how the lockdown had affected her personal life, including limiting her visits to her 87 year-old mother.

She said: “What I miss is being able to visit each other in each other’s homes. In the country, it’s what we do.

“I’ve been trying to keep away from my mum in person which is very difficult because we are a tight family and her home is the centre of it all.”

In receiving her vaccine today, Mrs Foster becomes the third leader of the UK’s four nations to be vaccinated, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, 57, and Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford, 66, already having received a first dose.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said yesterday that she had been invited to receive her first dose, which “really does soften the blow of being 50”.

In Northern Ireland, deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill and Health Minister Robin Swann will have to wait to be vaccinated as they are in the 40 to 49 age bracket.

On Monday, a new mass vaccination centre will begin operations in Belfast's SSE Arena, speeding up the rollout.