Fourth Covid booster jabs could be rolled out this summer as the Government braces itself for future waves of the disease.
It is waiting on official advice from the NIAC, but Leo Varadkar confirmed: “I think we’ll probably need to start the vaccine programme around about the middle of the year.”
And the Tanaiste said the Government is “concerned” that there are still over 1,000 people in hospital with Covid every day.
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He added: “The real message to the public is that the pandemic is not over.”
The latest evidence from the WHO shows that vaccine immunity starts to weaken after four to five months.
It was anticipated that fourth jabs might have been needed here towards the end of the year, around the time of the annual flu vaccination programme in October or November. But Mr Varadkar’s comments at the National Day of Remembrance for Covid victims and frontline workers indicates that this timetable could be brought forward as the world battles to beat back more waves.
The news comes as over 1,000 people remain in hospital with Covid daily, the same level as there was a year ago, but, thankfully, only around 50 are in intensive care.
The Tanaiste said: “We’re concerned with that right now, because it does represent a second wave of the Omicron variant if you like.
“But it is a different situation than the one we were in before, because the population is heavily vaccinated and because a lot of people that are in hospital are in for other reasons. It’s not causing undue concern at this stage. We really want to encourage people to have the booster, the third dose if they haven’t already – a lot of people haven’t.
“My expectation is that we will approve a fourth dose, probably not for everyone, but for older people and medically vulnerable and that will happen before the winter because there is strong evidence that immunity, both from the vaccine and from getting the virus, wears off after about four or five months, or at least starts to wear off.”
Events took place across Ireland in honour of the 6,600 people killed by Covid. Taoiseach Michael Martin, who is still isolating in Washington DC, paid tribute in a statement to frontline health workers.
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