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TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has this evening said there is no point speculating about the potential return of restrictions as he said that the Irish vaccine rollout has put the nation in a very strong position in its fight against the disease.
Speaking at the end of the Climate Plan launch, Martin was asked if restrictions were on the cards if case numbers, ICU and hospitalisation numbers continue to spiral.
Martin said that the entire of Europe was experiencing a new wave but that Ireland had protected itself due to our high vaccination rates, which stands at one of the highest in the whole of the EU.
The Taoiseach said the rollout of the booster shots along with greater use of antigen testing should mean that Ireland remains on top of the virus over the coming months.
When pressed specifically regarding restrictions and what will happen if hospitalisations increase, Martin said: “Vaccination has been very significant in substantially reducing the linkage between case numbers, severe illness, hospitalisation and ICU. That’s the bottom line in terms of current management of the current phase of this pandemic.
“We will keep this under review, as we have been doing from the very beginning of the pandemic, and also will be in consultation with the CMO and his team, and there’s no point in sort of hypothesising or speculating.
“The bottom line is this; there are three key areas in terms of the booster campaign, in terms of the bulwark that vaccination so far has represented in terms of testing and tracing and the use of antigen testing, and also in terms of broader collective societal behavior to keep the lid on this.”
Regarding the rollout of the booster shot, Martin said there was already some evidence to suggest that the infection rates among those over 80, who have received the additional jab, had declined.
“It’s early yet, but some evidence is indicating that the booster campaign is already having an impact in terms of incidents and the over 80s and indeed in nursing homes. The widespread use of antigen testing is another weapon we’re using in addition to PCR testing. Testing and tracing capacity remains particularly important and serial testing of nursing homes also,” he added.
Public health officials today confirmed 3,024 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland – the third day in a row where cases have exceeded 3,000.
As of 8am today, there were 458 Covid-19 patients in hospital, of which 90 were receiving intensive care.
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What on earth is the media’s obsession for more restrictions/lockdowns. There’s almost 80% of the population vaccinated I’d say this is as good as it gets. Just let people get on with it and drop the lockdown hysteria.
@Franny Ando: We’ll said, what’s wrong with these people, they need to get a life.
There can’t be any valid benefit to lockdown now. Vaccines have broken the link between cases and serious illness and death.
“Restrictions returning”? We have vaccine passports, which weren’t in any of our three lockdowns. It’s getting ridiculous at this stage, we were told they would be temporary.
@Victoria Victoria: Long may they last and hopefully the number of settings requiring them will increase soon.
If they put some actual mitigations in place in primary schools from now until vaccines are approved for 5-12s, instead of letting the virus run unimpeded through the largest group of unvaccinated people in the country, it would help reduce case numbers, ease pressure on the health system, save lives, protect children, help keep schools open and protect kids’ education.
@Mac Muinteoir: you’re assuming there’ll be a high uptake of injections for the kids..
@The Interloper (what/why): anything is better than 0%, which is what we currently have.
@Brian O’Grady: fair enough. It’s not really poison though.
@Mac Muinteoir: kids are not the problem here at all – how many kids in hospital? How mnay in icu – if you use your brains at all you will conclude that kids are gonna get infected but it is not that harmful – and with treatments for covid being approved we will see that vaccine rates are as good as it gets and this hyperbole about kids in school will pass
@Dave Hammond: you’re saying it’s fine for kids to get Covid, I don’t agree. Most kids won’t get very sick, but some will. Some will have debilitating symptoms for months. Unless we are spectacularly lucky, some will die. And kids with covid infect others, like parents and grandparents. Which drives up cases, adds pressure to the health system, and results in more sickness and deaths. We could be doing a much better job of protecting kids from infection in schools. It really wouldn’t be hard, since all we’re doing now is opening windows, washing hands and saying the word “safe” a lot.
This doesn’t correspond with what the doom and naysayers were saying
@Keith Fay: are you sure that wasn’t horses?
He needs to clarify if the whole population will get the Booster I will be getting the Booster if its clarified
have your say