Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has been asked to consider vaccinating nominated visitors to nursing homes as part of the State's vaccination rollout in the new year.
A prioritisation list is currently being drawn up and the new Covid-19 Vaccine Task Force will present a plan to Government on Friday.
It is expected that 300,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine will initially be available, enough to cover all care home residents.
Tadhg Daly from Nursing Homes Ireland says a nominated visitor should also be included so visits continue while the rest of the population is vaccinated.
Mr Daly said: “Clearly if vaccination is happening in a given nursing home, maybe in a rural part of Ireland, then in my mind it is worth exploring the possibility of nominated visitors, if you are visiting the facility, to be vaccinated along with residents and staff in that particular facility.”
