Children aged 12 to 15 are receiving Covid-19 vaccines at centres across Ireland this weekend.

About 75,000 children in the age cohort had already registered for a vaccine appointment by Saturday morning – 48 hours after the online portal opened.

A number of centres administered vaccines to 12 to 15-year-olds on Friday but the main rollout to the age group began in earnest on Saturday.

The children – who need the consent of a parent or guardian to get vaccinated – are receiving Pfizer or Moderna jabs.

More than 80% of the adult population in Ireland is now fully vaccinated and around 90% partially vaccinated.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) has said it wants to vaccinate the 12-15 age group “rapidly and quickly”.

HSE chief executive Paul Reid said opening up the vaccination to the young age cohort marked a “very strong point” of the country’s vaccine programme.

“Our teams and vaccination centres are strongly focused to try and get this job done rapidly and quickly,” he said.

On Friday, deputy chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn warned that Covid-19 rates are rising across Ireland, with more than 10,000 cases recorded in the last week.

He also warned the incidence of Covid-19 cases are now rising across all age groups – not just among those aged 16-29.

“While vaccination has very positively impacted on the proportion of positive cases who end up in hospital or critical care, the current high and increasing incidence will nevertheless result in a significant number of people getting very sick with Covid-19,” Dr Glynn said.