Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has told the Dáil that the European Medicines Agency is due to approve the Oxford/Astrazeneca vaccine on 29 January.
This would increase the vaccine rollout from 50,000 doses per week to over 100,000 in February. He was responding to questions from TD Cathal Berry of the Regional Independent Group who described the roll-out as "sluggish".
During Leaders' Questions, Deputy Berry told the Dáil that IT systems were not working properly and that many frontline healthcare workers were still not vaccinated.
Mr Varadkar said the IT systems would be functional in the near future and said that the Government is considering "honorariums" for people who have been volunteering in testing hubs.