Mask wearing for primary school children is likely to be stood down at the end of the month, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn has indicated.
And he said that he expects NIAC to make a recommendation on booster jabs for children aged under 15 in the next 2-3 weeks.
While Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan said there may not be a case for an extra booster jab for the whole population in the coming months.
NPHET have said they are due to meet on February 17 and will give an update to the Government on remaining public health measures such as mask wearing and Covid measures in schools.
When asked if the decision on whether children will have to continue to wear masks beyond the end of this month would be expedited, Dr Glynn said the timeline set to review mask wearing for children in schools was down to every child having the opportunity to be vaccinated.
He said: “We brought in mask wearing for children aged 9-12 years in November as we saw incidence increase in that age group.
“At the time we made a commitment that we would review that recommendation in February with a view towards either continuing with it or stepping it down from the time children go back after the mid-term break.
“And so we are in the process of renewing that evidence at the moment and will consider that over the next 10 days and will make a recommendation on that in line with the other recommendations at its meeting on February 17.
“The key part of the rationale and the process of decision making or making the recommendations that we made recently was that we wanted to give all children aged 5-11 the opportunity to be vaccinated.
“It’s clear that many have, over 100,000 have been vaccinated to date and on the basis of the timelines that are there, every child that wants to be, can have that opportunity to be fully vaccinated by the time they go back to school after the mid-term break and so that was the rationale underpinning that.
“You can go to your pub , yes but those in the pub beside you have had the opportunity to be vaccinated, boosted and fully protected and that’s the key difference.
“Those 100,000 children, the vast majority of them only have one dose, they’ll get their second dose over the next 2-3 weeks and hopefully many others will come forward and get vaccinated in the interim and hopefully at that point we’ll be in a position to update the recommendation.”
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan, Deputy CMO Dr Glynn and NPHET’s Professor Philip Nolan gave an update to TDs and Senators at an Oireachtas Health committee on Wednesday regarding the progress following the relaxation of restrictions.
Dr Holohan said “pockets” remain of areas and people who have not yet come forward for their vaccinated or booster jab.
He also said there was a slight rise in Covid-19 cases in people aged 19-24 year olds but he was not “expressing concern” over that rise right now.
Both Dr Holohan and Dr Glynn said there has been a slow down in the number of people coming forward for their booster vaccine and said it was for a “variety of reasons.”
Dr Holohan pointed out there is a 50% decrease in the risk of catching Covid-19 if people have a third jab.
Professor Nolan said messaging needs to be strengthened on the importance of people getting their booster particularly for those who will soon be eligible for it having waited for three months post infection.
Dr Holohan also said that he has written to the State’s vaccine advisory body, NIAC, on the future of annual vaccinations.
He said one of the possibilities could end up being a less frequent “topping up” of vaccination.
Dr Holohan said there may not be a case for another booster shot for the whole population.
And perhaps just for the vulnerable in the coming months.
He said the booster jab looks like it will "hold up pretty well" and that it was important in restoring some lost protection from a two-dose vaccination.
He said he is not “predicting” anything but said it may not be necessary to assume the population will have another booster jab in the next nine months.
In response to co-leader of the Social Democrats Roisin Shorthall, Deputy CMO said he expected NIAC to make a recommendation on booster jabs for children aged under 15 in the next two to three weeks.
He said NIAC have been in contact with NPHET in recent days to “weigh up” and consider the evidence on booster jabs for those aged under 15.
Fianna Fáil TD John Lahart said legitimate questions need to be asked about the delay in the use of antigen tests.
In response, Dr Holohan said “our advice in relation to how antigen tests are used never changed.”
He said when disease prevalence is high, antigen tests are “useful” in these situations.
He said the use of antigen tests weren’t being advised when the incidence of the disease was much lower. For example, last summer.
He added that NPHET stands over their advice and it hasn’t changed.
When asked if NPHET will be wound down soon, Dr Holohan told Sinn Fein TD David Cullinane that NPHET still has a lot of work to do and added “we still need advice.”
Dr Holohan said the Omicron variant is unlikely to be the last variant of concern and that as a country we have to be able to react.
He said we are “quite some time away” from using the term pandemic when asked by Deputy Lahart if we are still dealing with a pandemic.
