“That would be the responsible public health advice.”
Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Tony Holohan has advised parents not to bring young children for indoor dining.
This is as the government is aiming to have legislation, which will allow the children of fully vaccinated people to enter indoor hospitality settings with their parent or guardian, passed by the Dáil and Seanad this week.
The CMO made the comments during a Department of Health briefing on Wednesday afternoon where 783 new cases of Covid-19 were reported in Ireland – the highest number since 20 February.
Quizzed on the topic of indoor dining, Holohan said: “In terms of children, I still think that even though certain things are possible, children won’t be vaccinated. There’s no plan at this point in time to vaccinate children.
“For now, to parents of young children, it’s safer not to bring your children into indoor dining and other facilities – even though these kinds of things might be possible. That would be the responsible public health advice.”
The CMO stated that, as indoor dining becomes possible, there will be an increase in the availability of outdoor dining facilities.
“If you do need to go out or wish to go out with your children, dining outdoors is still possible, you don’t have to go indoors,” Holohan added.
“We know that Delta transmission among children can happen and so we have to reflect that into the advice that we give.
“If you’re a parent of young children and you’re anxious to go out for a meal, it’s better to do that outdoors, rather than indoors, or to put that off until such point as we believe we’ve got to a higher level… of population vaccination than we have at the moment.”
Holohan also said during the briefing that unvaccinated staff working in indoor dining under the Covid pass system being developed represents a low risk for Covid-19 transmission.
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