Coronavirus 1386 new cases confirmed in State with 106 people in hospital

A further 1,386 people have been diagnosed with Covid-19, according to the Department of Health.

There are 106 people in hospital with the disease, of whom, 22 are in intensive care.

The Department of Health issued a warning on Friday evening that misinformation spread about Covid-19 vaccinations has “undermined vaccination efforts in many countries, prolonging the pandemic and putting lives at risk”.

It highlighted that the pandemic has provided an example of how easily misinformation can be spread online, with many people having been exposed to false, inaccurate or misleading information.

“Remember, not every post on social media is reliable or accurate,” the department said in a statement on Twitter. “If you are not sure, then don’t share.”

There are high levels of vaccine confidence in Ireland, the statement continued, and those with questions about vaccines should access information from reliable sources, including the HSE’s website, gov.ie, GPs and healthcare professionals.

Professor Philip Nolan, chair of the NPHET’s epidemiological modelling advisory group. File Photograph: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin Herd immunity

Earlier on Friday, National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) official Prof Philip Nolan has warned that “herd immunity” was an abstract concept, and there wasn’t a “magic” figure to be reached at which stage “everything goes back to normal.”

Speaking on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland, Prof Nolan said that herd immunity was a useful concept, but that reaching a figure of 85 per cent would not mean life could go back to normal.

High levels of vaccination needed to be reached before any “non-pharmaceutical” restrictions could be relaxed, he said.

In the meantime, everyone, as a society, needed to continue to play their part. A gradual reduction of other restrictions could be looked at as vaccination levels were increased, he said.

Caution

Prof Nolan cautioned against looking at what had happened in Scotland recently, where case numbers rose and then dropped. There were always reasons to be optimistic and not to be focussed on the “grim possibilities”, but it was not inevitable that a specific trajectory would occur, he added.

What happened next depended on “what we do for the next few weeks.”

“Where the numbers go next depends on us. The good news is that the vaccine gives us great protection,” he said.

The risk to the population of getting the virus now was 30 per cent of what it had been, while the risk of serious disease was now ten to 15 per cent, he said.

Prof Nolan called on the public to “get your vaccine when it is offered”, as the Delta variant would remain a significant threat for the coming weeks.

Some who were vaccinated were “inappropriately feeling bullet proof,” he said, adding that while the vaccine offered protection, the virus could still be transmitted. “We can’t let the disease run riot.”

Meanwhile, the HSE’s head of the vaccination programme, Damien McCallion has vowed that “no one will be left behind.”

Eligible

Everyone in the country over the age of 18 was eligible to be vaccinated, he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland. There were options for anyone who had not availed of the vaccine at an earlier stage, he said.

Ireland had one of the highest vaccination take-up rates in Europe in a number of age groups with 67 per cent of 20-29 year olds already vaccinated or registered for their vaccine.

When asked about a date for when children aged 12 to 15 could be vaccinated, Mr McCallion said they were awaiting National Immunisation Advisory Committee advice, but were planning ahead for when a decision was reached.

The HSE had a good track record and a lot of experience when it came to vaccinating children through schools, he said.

Mr McCallion anticipated that a start date for the vaccination of 16-17 year olds would be set next week.

Separately, the latest data has shown that Ireland now has one of the fastest vaccination rates in the world.

In an updated comparison of vaccine rollout data in the United States and Ireland, London-based not-for-profit organisation Our World in Data states that the share of people fully vaccinated against the virus in Ireland has now surpassed that of the United States by 2 per cent.

The percentage of the total population partially vaccinated has also surpassed that of the United States by 3.5 per cent.

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