Most children aged five to 11-years-old will not be offered their COVID vaccine in time for the return to school in January.

The HSE has confirmed that the portal for young children who are deemed high risk will open on December 28th.

It will then open for all other children from January 10th.

Speaking at a HSE briefing this afternoon, Dr Lucy Jessop from the National Immunisation Office said vaccinating children can prevent them from getting very sick if they do pick up the virus.

“The risk of children being hospitalised because of COVID is very low and indeed, the risk of going to intensive care is extremely low, but children with certain medical conditions are at higher risk of severe illness and hospitalisation if they get COVID-19,” she said.

“But looking at data from Ireland, in fact, seven out of ten children admitted to hospital who had COVID-19 in this age group actually had no underlying conditions at all.”

She said the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) “very strongly recommends” vaccination for children:

• With underlying conditions
• Living with another child with complex medical needs
• Living with someone who is immunocompromised

The briefing also heard that the HSE’s new booster schedule will now not be published until next week.

It was confirmed last night that people in their 40s will start getting their jabs from the week commencing December 27th; however, no details have been announced for younger age groups.

HSE Chief Paul Reid said the plan is still being finalised.

“All other age groups will obviously be accelerated forward than originally planned and we will be publishing further details in relation to indicative dates of each age group next week,” he said.

Last night, the HSE announced a range of measures aimed at speeding up the booster – including opening mass vaccination centre for 12 hours a day seven days a week.

Three new vaccination centres are also being opened:

• Richmond Barracks in Dublin from today
• The RDS in Dublin from December 27th
• One in Cork city in early January

Meanwhile, GPs are pausing all non-urgent care in a bid to focus on rolling out vaccines. The HSE is also working to increase the number of pharmacies involved in the rollout from 700 to 1,000.

Mr Reid said more than 8.8 million vaccine doses have been administered in Ireland up to now.

He said nearly 1.5 million boosters have been administered, including a daily record of 50,000 administered yesterday.