Immunologist Professor Liam Fanning has said he supports calls for "vax pods" where people who have been fully vaccinated could meet.
The professor of immunovirology at University College Cork told Newstalk Breakfast that there should also be county by county restrictions as the virus was not everywhere.
Cork county had a level of fewer than 5 cases per 100,000 which effectively meant that the virus was being suppressed, he said. “People have done the right thing.”
Prof Fanning called for people to be allowed to move about within their own county and if the number of cases increased then restrictions could be reimposed.
“It’s time for autonomy to be returned to individuals. Let them make evidence based assessments.”
The vaccine was “a wonderful tool in our armoury” with an efficacy rate of 97 per cent. “You couldn’t ask for a higher achievement.”
People who had been vaccinated should be allowed to meet in "vax pods" or bubbles, he said, but they needed to make sure that someone who was awaiting a test result was not in contact with them.
There could be "flying vaccination squads" who could come into an area if necessary, he added.
If there were different levels for different counties, gardaí could be redeployed to manage travel and county boundaries much like the current road blocks where people would provide identification and their reason for travelling into the county.
This would address concerns about people flocking to a county where restrictions had been eased, he said.
