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13th Apr 2021

Dr Ronan Glynn says there will likely be no need for vaccine passports by June

Clara Kelly

covid cases ireland

He is hopeful that we may be able to book a haircut sooner than expected after all.

Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn has said that there will be no need for vaccine passports if the current vaccination rollout goes according to plan.

Dr Glynn said that if the current goal of vaccinating 80% of the adult population by June is met, there will be no ‘undue need’ to prevent un-vaccinated people from having the same freedoms as those who have had their jab.

Speaking at the Oireachtas Joint Health Committee on Tuesday he said: “I would look at it in a slightly different way, and I reiterated this on a number of occasions, which is if we can get approximately 80% of the adult population with at least one dose by June and if the disease is under control at that point, we will see a far greater level of society open at that point than where we are at this point.

“At that point, I would hope there wouldn’t be an undue need on the island to differentiate between for example what you can do when you’ve been vaccinated and what you can do when you can’t.

“For example, there has been some suggestion that maybe you can go and get a haircut if you’re vaccinated, I’d hope that long before that if the disease remains under control, everyone will be able to go.”

Dr Glynn also urged people to limit their social contact over the next six weeks to prevent a fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

He continued: “While significant progress is being made in controlling the disease and in rolling out vaccines, we still have a high level of infection, we are dealing with a much more transmissible virus than last year, and the absolute number of people fully protected through vaccination remains low.

“This means that there remains a considerable risk that Ireland will experience a further wave of infection if public health restrictions are eased too quickly.

“However, modeling has shown that a further wave of infection can be substantially mitigated if levels of social contact across the population remain largely unchanged over the next 6 weeks.”

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