“We’ve had 200 people in ICU in the past two months. 199 of them were not fully vaccinated.”
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has warned that unvaccinated people are more at risk of catching Covid-19 over the next few weeks than at any point in this pandemic.
During Leaders’ Questions on Thursday, the Tánaiste said he wanted to use what might be his last occasion to discuss Covid-19 in the chamber before the Dáil’s summer recess to warn the public “the pandemic is not over”.
“We’re entering a new phase of the pandemic,” Varadkar said.
“We have vaccines now which has weakened the connection between cases and hospitalisations and deaths, but it’s not broken it and we have a virus now that is more infectious than ever before.
“At the start of the pandemic, older people were the most vulnerable. We asked them to stay at home and that saved lives.
“But things have changed, now unvaccinated people – that is people who are not fully vaccinated – are the most vulnerable.
“Over the course of the next few weeks, people who are not fully vaccinated are at greater risk than ever before in this pandemic because this virus is so transmissible.”
The Tánaiste said there have been 200 patients with Covid-19 in intensive care in the past two months, with 199 of them not fully vaccinated.
He also highlighted that Ireland is seeing “a major surge” in cases, almost entirely among younger people and those not fully vaccinated.
“I ask them over the summer – at least until you’re fully vaccinated – please avoid socialising indoors, please keep your social contacts to a minimum, please avoid non-essential foreign travel and please wear a mask even outdoors in crowded scenarios,” Varadkar added.
“People who are unvaccinated are more at risk over the next few weeks than at any point in this pandemic.
“It is not over.”
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