Stephen Donnelly announces major acceleration of Ireland’s vaccination campaign as South African variant confirmed Updated: 8 Jan 2021, 20:47 HEALTH Minister Stephen Donnelly has announced a major acceleration of Ireland’s vaccination campaign. The move will see more nursing homes residents and staff vaccinated over the next two weeks than had initially been planned. 3 3 Staff and residents Merlin Park Community Nursing Unit receive Pfizer BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in Co. Galway Minister Donnelly said: “We had planned to vaccinate all 75,000 residents and staff with the first dose of the vaccine by the end of January. "We’re now accelerating this plan to finish earlier, meaning that the first dose will be given to all residents and staff in the next two weeks.”