Covid-19: Professor warns vaccine rollout only one part of normality's return

“We still have to do the other things as well while we're waiting for everybody to receive the vaccine, because in the meanwhile people are still vulnerable,” said Professor McLysaght. File picture.

Genetics expert Aoife McLysaght has warned that the Covid-19 vaccine is only one part of the return to normality.

While the vaccine will play a major role, restrictions must remain a part of society for some time to come, Professor McLysaght told Newstalk Breakfast.

A professor in the Molecular Evolution Laboratory of the Smurfit Institute of Genetics at Trinity College Dublin, Professor McLysaght said it was unfair and unrealistic to expect the vaccine “to be the whole thing” and pinning all hopes on the vaccine would actually make a return to normal take even longer, she said.

“We still have to do the other things as well while we're waiting for everybody to receive the vaccine, because in the meanwhile people are still vulnerable,” said Professor McLysaght. 

Professor McLysaght also warned that the hospital system was vulnerable and under strain. 

“We just have to keep that up for a bit longer. If we count everything just on the vaccine, then we'll be waiting until 80% of people are vaccinated before things are more normal,” she said. There were vulnerable people in every age group, she said, so all would not be protected once the elderly were vaccinated she added. 

Professor McLysaght also cautioned that the vaccine was not 100% effective and in some cases the efficacy was lower in older age groups. 

She explained this meant older people would not necessarily be protected after they received the two doses, but that “they will become protected by the so-called herd immunity when a large group of people have received it.” 

It might be possible to get back to some level of normality by St Patrick’s Day if there was a further lockdown in January, she said. “I think the problem is the next lockdown's going to happen before even the vulnerable are vaccinated - we'll be probably talking about that in January,” said Professor McLysaght. 

It would then be necessary to live at restrictions similar to Level 1 of the government's Living with Covid plan until 80% per cent of the population gets the vaccine, she said.