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Vaccines against the coronavirus have been hailed as the “beginning of the end” of the pandemic, but the government has warned that it is not the end of the virus.
imon Harris said the vaccines will be “transformative” if they are approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
Ireland will receive around 1pc of the vaccines purchased through the EU scheme.
The Minister of Higher Education said that while it is good news, he warned of the risks of people “lowering their guard.”
“If we do that, we could end up in a really dangerous place, if we hear good news on the horizon but a lot of people get sick in the meantime, and we must avoid that,” he told RTE.
“It is the beginning of the end but it is not the end.
“It will take several months to reach everyone in our country (vaccinated).
“We have to listen to our doctors. The same people who have guided us through this pandemic have done a very good job of keeping us safe and giving us good and honest advice.
“Those are the same people who make the key decisions about who should get the vaccine first and how it should be implemented.”
He added that there are “reasons to be optimistic and hopeful” for next year.
Sinn Fein’s Eoin O Broin said there was a light at the end of the tunnel, but that it was “vital” to be clear about public health and political messages.
“As always with new drugs, there will be people who have concerns and questions,” he added.
“Public health officials, who are the people best positioned to answer those questions, should have the government’s support in clarifying the message so that everyone understands when this vaccine is available and why certain people are making it available. receive first ”.
There were no new deaths from Covid-19 reported Sunday by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet).
301 new positive cases of coronavirus were reported in the last day.
Eight people have been admitted to the hospital with Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of coronavirus patients to 231, of which 28 are in the ICU.
Richard Boyd Barrett warned of the impact of “chronic understaffing” on the launch of the vaccine.
The TD Solidarity-People Before Profit also said there was a lack of “adequate means” to have a vaccine registry to monitor vaccine recipients.
He said the “dangerous” healthcare system raises questions about the logistics and resources of a vaccine system.
“I hope those things do not become barriers to the effective deployment of a vaccine,” he added.
PA media
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