Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said coronavirus vaccination certificates are part of the Government's implementation plan, though it will first be necessary to see what impact the jab has on transmission of Covid-19.
“The vaccine certificate is part of the implementation plan and what we need to see is exactly what impact these vaccines will have,” Mr Donnelly told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
He said he had heard airlines were “floating the idea” that passengers would need a vaccination certificate to be able to fly.
It would be necessary to determine the impact of the vaccine on levels of transmissibility – if it protected only the person vaccinated or if it prevented transmission of the virus, he explained.
“Then we will be able to make an informed judgement.”
The plan for Covid vaccinations in the Republic could see up to 5,000 people receive the jab before the new year, depending on authorisation from medicines regulators.
On Wednesday Mr Donnelly predicted a “low volume” of vaccinations could take place in December after the European Medicines Agency brought forward its final assessment of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine by more than a week.
If the agency authorises the vaccine at an exceptional meeting, now scheduled for next Monday, final approval from the European Commission, which is binding on Ireland and other member states, is expected to follow within days.
According to The Irish Times, Ireland is due to receive several thousand doses of the vaccine initially as part of its 1.11 per cent share of supplies negotiated by the EU on behalf of member states.
Roll-out plan
Approved vaccines will be rolled out in three phases under the plans published by a Government-appointed taskforce on Tuesday.
Events spaces, conference centres, universities and GAA stadiums will be used as mass vaccination centres, The Irish Examiner reports.
HSE chief executive Paul Reid said the Citywest Hotel campus in Dublin, the National Exhibition Centre in Swords, Co Dublin, and stadiums such as Croke Park and Páirc Ui Chaoimh were examples of places which could be used when the vaccine roll-out ramps up.
Vaccines will be distributed in long-term care facilities, acute hospitals and mass vaccination centres, before moving to GP surgeries and community pharmacies.
Prof Brian McCraith, who chaired the Government's high-level vaccine taskforce, has held conversations with a number of universities about their involvement in the establishment of mass vaccination centres.
Mr Donnelly hailed the vaccination strategy as a “moment of hope and light”, which will play a central role in our exit from the pandemic.
Return to normality
Genetics expert Aoife McLysaght has warned that the Covid-19 vaccine is only one part of the return to normality.
While the vaccine will play a major role, restrictions must remain a part of society for some time to come, Prof McLysaght told Newstalk Breakfast.
It was unfair and unrealistic to expect the vaccine “to be the whole thing” and pinning all hopes on the vaccine would actually make a return to normal take even longer, she warned.
“We still have to do the other things as well while we're waiting for everybody to receive the vaccine, because in the meanwhile people are still vulnerable.”
Prof McLysaght also warned that the hospital system was vulnerable and under strain. “We just have to keep that up for a bit longer. If we count everything just on the vaccine, then we'll be waiting until 80 per cent of people are vaccinated before things are more normal.”
There were vulnerable people in every age group, she said, so all would not be protected once the elderly were vaccinated.
Prof McLysaght also cautioned that the vaccine was not 100 per cent effective and in some cases the efficacy was lower in older age groups.
She explained this meant older people would not necessarily be protected after they received the two doses, but that “they will become protected by the so-called herd immunity when a large group of people have received it.” – Additional reporting: Vivienne Clarke
