Ireland is in a strong position in the battle against the third wave of Covid-19, according to Ireland’s Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan.
Dr Holohan issued a plea today to encourage the public to continue their efforts to curb the spread of the virus. Ireland is suppressing this third wave of infection faster than any other country in Europe, he said.
Dr Holohan expressed his hope for a different future with the roll-out of vaccines.
“It is beyond any expectations we had when the first case of this infection was reported in Ireland on 29 February last, that within one year we would have multiple vaccines developed, tested and being made available to our population. It is an immense scientific and public health achievement,” Dr Holohan said.
Last week, the European Medicines Agency authorised the AstraZeneca vaccine for distribution. This is in addition to the first two vaccines manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna of which more than 220,000 doses have been administered in Ireland. Dr Holohan recommended only the mRNA vaccines – Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna – to people over the age of 70 due to the lack of data on efficacy among older adults with AstraZeneca vaccine.
“It is a matter of great importance that we as a country can now offer the vaccines we believe to be most effective to the people who are most vulnerable to the effects of COVID-19 i.e. those aged over 70,” Dr Holohan said.
“We are in a strong position. Thanks to the efforts of the population in staying home, limiting contacts and following public health advice there has been a substantial decrease in disease incidence and we can see that we are suppressing this third wave of COVID-19 infection faster than any other country in Europe.
“It is very important that we keep this up. With a daily case number in excess of 1,000 we know we need to make more progress with the measures that Government has mandated until 5 March.
“It is especially important that those who have been vaccinated keep following the same advice as everyone else because we don’t yet have enough good evidence that vaccination can stop them spreading the infection.
“Please continue to stay safe and follow public health advice and we will get through this pandemic together.”
