NI’s mass vaccination centres see surge in activity amid first dose deadline

Scenes at the SSE Arena vaccination centre in Belfast as mass centres in Belfast administered first doses of jabs for the last time on Saturday. Operations at the main centres are being phased out in the coming weeks as the programme adjusts how the majority of jabs are delivered. First doses were available to adults for the last time on Saturday with second doses continuing to be administered in the centres in the coming weeks. A number of first doses will still be given at the centres to specific groups of eligible under-18s.Eight more deaths of patients who had tested positive for Covid-19 were reported on Saturday, along with 1,117 new confirmed cases of the virus.