Slow roll-out of Covid vaccines in Ireland 'risks higher level of unemployment than necessary'

A slower roll-out rate of the coronavirus vaccine risks Ireland ending up with a higher level of business failures and long-term unemployment than necessary. File picture: Dan Linehan

Ireland and the rest of the EU risk a higher number of business failures and long-term scarring of unemployment than is necessary because of the relatively slow roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines, Goodbody chief economist Dermot O'Leary has warned. 

The warning comes as Britain stepped up its bet that a swift application of its vaccination programme will help lift the worst of its latest round of strict economic restrictions designed to get the pandemic under control.