The Chief Medical Officer has suggested annual Covid-19 booster vaccines may be offered to vulnerable members of society only.
Dr Tony Holohan has told the Oireachtas Health Committee that he wrote to NIAC to ask them to consider the future of the vaccination programme.
🦠 CMO Dr Tony Holohan tells the Oireachtas Health Committee that annual Covid vaccines may only be needed for vulnerable people.
He said he's not preempting recommendations from NIAC - but it's possible.
— Ben Finnegan (@_BenFinnegan) February 2, 2022
It's estimated 80 per cent of those currently eligible for a booster vaccine have availed of one.
Dr Holohan says NIAC may advise that population-wide vaccination will be unnecessary in the future.
"Certainly one of the possiblities - and I'm not anticipating the advice they'll give yet - is that we could end up in a less-frequent vaccination situation.
"Whereby the topping up by one's vaccination is for the purpose of preventing severe infection, and it may well be the recommendation is not focused on the entire population but people with particular vulnerablities."
