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The launch of the coronavirus vaccines could start early in the new year, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said.
Donnelly will meet with Professor Brian MacCraith, head of the state’s vaccination task force, on Monday.
Professor MacCraith’s team is scheduled to deliver an implementation strategy to the government in mid-December and the Minister of Health is now optimistic about its introduction in January.
He said: “Potentially early in the new year we could be looking at things. Brian MacCraith and his team are obviously very quickly rolling out the necessary distribution for that.
“I’d say December is unlikely to be honest with you, but very soon.”
(Image: Keith Arkins)
Donnelly told Newstalk’s On the Record with Gavan Reilly on Sunday that he did not want to introduce mandatory vaccination for the general public.
He said: “Several EU countries have introduced laws on compulsory vaccination. We have not done this and I can tell you that there has been no talk at the government level about how to do it.
“My biggest preference with that is that it would be voluntary.”
Donnelly pointed to a Red C opinion poll in the Sunday Business Post that found that 74% of the public would favor taking the vaccine.
In a separate interview with RTE’s This Week, the minister admitted that the government expects cases to start increasing again within two weeks, following the move back to level three restrictions.
He said: “What we hope to see, and indeed what Nphet hopes to see, is that the number of cases will continue to fall for at least another week and possibly another two weeks.
“So I hope to see, and indeed Nphet hopes to see, the cases start to increase again.”
However, he said the government does not intend to reimpose restrictions this year unless there is “a large increase in cases.”
He said: “There is no intention or suggestion from Nphet or the government that restrictions will be re-imposed this year.”
“These types of considerations will always be reviewed by both the Government and Nphet.
“If something very serious happens, if we see a big increase in cases, if we see uncontrolled events happening everywhere, obviously the government will keep it under consideration.”
Donnelly also noted that Ireland has seen “the largest reduction in Covid cases anywhere in Europe.”
He added: “We have had a reduction of more than 90% in deaths from Covid. We have had the largest reduction in deaths of any country in Europe.
“So for every 10 people who died from Covid in wave one, less than one died in wave two, although the case numbers were roughly the same.
“Now, obviously, any one death is too much. But that Ireland has achieved the largest reduction in deaths per million people is testament to the work that everyone has done.
“As Minister of Health, I have a huge thank you to the health workers, they have been fantastic.”
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