Ireland may face another year of restrictions as the coronavirus vaccine is rolled out, according to a Trinity professor.
Cabinet is this morning considering a vaccine rollout plan that would see nursing home residents first in line for the jab in the New Year.
They will be followed by frontline healthcare workers and people over the age of 70.
Meanwhile, Irishwoman Margaret Keenan became the first member of the public to receive the jab outside of a clinical trial this morning.
The 90-year-old has lived in Coventry for the past 60 years and received the jab at University Hospital Coventry.
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Professor Aoife McLysaght from the Molecular Evolution Laboratory at Trinity college said we could be living with restrictions for some time to come.
“It gives us a timeline I think of how much longer this is going to go on for,” she said.
“It is not going to go on forever but we probably have something like a year until most people are protected so, maybe we need to think about, what can we do for a year? What can we tolerate for a year?”
Vulnerable
She said the vulnerable are not the only people who need protection from the virus.
“There is not only death resulting from this virus unfortunately,” she said. “There is also long-term illness and I think we shouldn’t forget that.
“Death is the most stark statistic but the long-term illness is also an important one. So, I think we can’t really underestimate this virus and the effects it has and I think we should be thinking more about having the whole population protected.”
Vaccine
Earlier on the show, the Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue said it was “too early” to say what effect the coronavirus vaccine would have on restrictions in the New Year.
“Obviously, we are going to have to monitor progress as the year evolves,” he said.
“We will do all we can as a Government to make sure the vaccine is rolled out promptly and we will be taking our advice from public health as that situation evolves.
“Obviously, those who are most vulnerable are most exposed but also, we have seen people who are really healthy become really, really sick as a result of contracting the coronavirus so it is something we have to tread carefully on.
Ciara Kelly doesn’t feel there is “any justification” for us to remain locked down once the vulnerable are vaccinated.@NTBreakfast pic.twitter.com/z4lVUV6eiA
— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) December 8, 2020
Professor McLysaght said ongoing restrictions do not mean a return to lockdown.
“I am not talking about a year of lockdown. I am talking about a year of certain restrictions,” she said.
“If we could get, for example, into the Government’s Level One, that would be something we could live with for a year.”
She said international travel should be discouraged next summer, “unless the vaccination programme goes extremely fast.”
“I think, if we have to make one sacrifice – and I think we do have to make sacrifices to have a semi normal life – I think international travel is the easiest one to sacrifice,” she said.
“Then we could have a relatively normal life for just about everything else we are doing. All of our interaction. Our coffee shops and restaurants and all of that kind of thing.”
You can listen back here:
