By Press Association
Leo Varadkar has said the Irish public should be “less puritanical” about people meeting and socialising outdoors as Covid-19 restrictions lift.
The Government is set to reveal reopening plans for May and the summer months on Thursday.
The Tánaiste said the objective is “to avoid there being a fourth wave this side of autumn or winter, and perhaps avoid it altogether”.
He added: “It is much, much safer outdoors than indoors. The chances of contracting the virus outdoors is much less than indoors.
“I think we’re just going to need to be a little more relaxed about people getting outdoors and enjoying themselves outdoors.”
We’re just going to need to be a little more relaxed about people getting outdoors and enjoying themselves outdoors
Following a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Micheál Martin admitted that “a number of weeks” have been lost due to the changes to the State’s vaccine rollout, but said it is now “full steam ahead”.
Today’s approval of both the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines for those over 50 meant the country had more than half a million extra vaccines for its rollout plan, he added.
“It essentially means we have 600,000 vaccines for quarter two that we didn’t have this morning, with Johnson & Johnson, which is a single-shot vaccine,” Mr Martin said.
“That’s good news for the vaccination program in terms of availability for over-50s. That’s AstraZeneca as well, for the over-50s.
“So it’s full steam ahead now in terms of the vaccination programme.
“Obviously we’ve lost some time. We’ve lost a number of weeks in relation to all these changes that have occurred in the context of AstraZeneca and in Janssen.
“And also with delivery schedules, but there will be significant volumes coming in next week.”
Mr Martin confirmed that there has been a reduction in delivery forecasts for the Johnson & Johnson jab, but said they remain “broadly on target” for the expected 600,000 doses due in quarter two.
He said: “There has been a reduction in the second shipment of that, but it was low enough anyway to begin with.
“The key with Johnson & Johnson is the 600,000 (doses) over the Q2 period, which gives us well in excess of four million vaccines due over the entirety of the Q2 period.”
Mr Martin also said the Government will make a “comprehensive statement” on plans to reopen society and the economy on Thursday.
He added: “What we open, we want to keep open this time. That’s a key underpinning rationale of what we do.
“That’s the real prize for the hospitality sector and the different sectors. That when we eventually take decisions to open a specific sector, or part of a sector, we want that to be for the long haul this time.”
Tuesday saw 10 further deaths related to Covid-19, with 426 new cases of the virus also confirmed.
As of Sunday, a total of 1,398,061 doses of Covid vaccines had been administered. These include 998,134 first doses and 399,927 second doses.
