Mask wearing for primary school children is likely to end in weeks as Dr Tony Holohan signals a safe return to normal life.
Speaking at Oireachtas Health Committee yesterday, the Chief Medical Officer said the pandemic was “not over” but it is “safe to return to all activities”.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said the timeline set to review mask wearing for pupils was down to every child having the opportunity to be vaccinated.
He added: “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.
“And so we are in the process of renewing that evidence at the moment and will consider that over the next 10 days.
“The key part of the rationale and the process of decision making or making the recommendations we made was we wanted to give all children aged 5-11 the opportunity to be vaccinated.
“More than 100,000 have been vaccinated 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.”
Meanwhile, Dr Holohan said there may not be a case for an extra booster jab for the whole population in the coming months.
He added “pockets” remain of areas and people who have not yet come forward for vaccine 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.
He revealed he has written to the State’s vaccine advisory body, NIAC, on the future of annual vaccinations.
The CMO said one of the possibilities could end up being a less frequent “topping up” of vaccination. Dr Holohan said the coming months could see the most vulnerable and not the whole population get a booster.
In response to a question from Social Democrats co-leader Roisin Shorthall, Dr Glynn 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 to consider the evidence.
Fianna Fail TD John Lahart said legitimate questions need to be asked about the delay in antigen tests use.
Dr Holohan replied “our advice on how antigen tests are used never changed.” He said when disease prevalence is high, antigen tests are “useful” in these situations.
The CMO told the panel the use of tests weren’t being advised when the incidence of the disease was much lower. Dr Holohan said this was the case last summer.
He added that NPHET stands over its advice and it hasn’t changed. When asked if NPHET will be wound down soon, Dr Holohan told Sinn Fein TD David Cullinane that would be premature as the body still has a lot of work to do and added “we still need advice.”
The CMO warned 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 endemic when asked by Deputy Lahart if we are still dealing with a pandemic.
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