Employers are being urged to "show flexibility" to allow employees to book and keep vaccination appointments.

Making the call, Health Minister Robin Swann said it is vitally important that first and second dose appointments are kept.

He continued: "We have an ongoing issue at present with people seeking to reschedule their second dose dates.

"While this will obviously be unavoidable in some cases, I would ask people to please keep such requests to a minimum.

"It heightens the already significant logistical and admin challenges of running the vaccination programme. This programme is a massive undertaking and anything that adds unnecessarily to its workload must be avoided.

"Work commitments are one of the reasons being cited for these requests. While the advice is still to work from home we recognise that many more people are based back in their workplace now than was the case in the early months of the programme.

"I would appeal to employers to be as flexible as they can if staff need time away to get their jabs.

"Vaccination is in everyone's best interests – including our work colleagues,

"The more we vaccinate and the quicker we do it by getting more first and second doses given, the sooner society can resume some form of normality."

If you need to book your first vaccine jab, go to covid-19.hscni.net/get-vaccinated. The system automatically generates a date for second dose. Prior to confirming your booking you should ensure you are available to attend on both dates to help ensure the vaccination centre staff do not need to spend valuable time trying to rearrange appointments.

Appointments can also be booked using the telephone service 0300 200 7813.