Don’t go unless you’re fully vaccinated is the message.
Unvaccinated Irish people have been advised to cancel or postpone their international holiday plans until they are fully vaccinated.
On Newstalk Breakfast on Friday morning, the Chair of the NPHET modelling group Professor Philip Nolan said people who are not fully vaccinated should postpone their travel plans.
“We can see a significant amount of travel in people who are not yet vaccinated and that’s a real risk to them,” he said.
“They could end up severely ill. Not many of them, but some of them will end up severely ill.
“More worryingly, they could infect somebody they love very much that is vaccinated but is unfortunate enough to get a significant or severe infection through this.
“So, we’re not so much concerned about this fuelling the next wave of the epidemic. It is now doing that; it is a relatively minor contributor in the grand scheme of things to the amount of transmission we are seeing on the island.
“But it’s important. It is important because it is an unvaccinated population and it presents a risk to them and risk to others.
“It’s a reiteration of the advice that high-risk activities like indoor socialising and travel, we are asking unvaccinated people to postpone their plans to do those things until they are protected.”
It comes following reports that Irish people are encountering difficulties on foreign holidays after contracting Covid-19 while in places like Spain.
Holidaymakers who tested positive for coronavirus in recent weeks are facing problems in accessing a negative test or certificate showing they have recovered from the virus.
In a statement to JOE on Thursday, the Department of Foreign affairs said it is “aware that there are a number of Irish citizens who cannot procure a negative test to return to Ireland”.
People who test positive for Covid-19 in Spain are required to isolate for 10 days, meaning that some are facing significant costs for accommodation and other expenses and then are subsequently unable to secure a test to return to Ireland.
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