Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has said that the booster jab rollout will not be confined to over-60s, but will extend to “younger cohorts” as well.
The announcement was made during an interview on Newstalk Breakfast this week.
The Minister said that NIAC would likely make a final decision in a few weeks about whether or not to offer booster jabs to younger people.
“This won’t be confined to the over-60s. It will extend to the younger cohort too,” he said, adding that as vaccine immunity wanes, boosters will play a role in the government’s plans.
He also added that he believed boosters would lower case numbers, citing Israel’s booster rollout where the numbers of cases in hospital and ICU appear to have fallen as boosters are administered.
This news comes as the Irish Medical Organisation says GP clinics, hospitals and ICU units have come under “extraordinary pressure” from Covid-19 cases, despite well over 90% of the population being fully vaccinated.
Ireland now has the highest number of patients in hospital with Covid-19 since March, despite over 91% of the population over-12 being vaccinated – the highest jab rate in the EU https://t.co/vob7sCSvU2
— Hussein Kanji (@hkanji) October 30, 2021
As of last night there were 486 Covid patients in hospital with Covid-19, and 75 in ICU.