'Wait to resume inter-county travel after primary schools close,' says UCC expert

Picture: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

A leading health expert Professor Liam Fanning has cautioned that it would be better to wait until primary schools close for the summer holidays before inter-county travel restrictions are lifted.

Immunovirology expert at University College Cork, Prof Fanning said that once the primary schools close at the end of June then inter-county travel could be considered, but that any counties that continued to have higher levels of Covid cases should be excluded.

The National Immunisation Advisory Committee’s (Niac) decision to approve the use of the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines for the over-50s was welcome news, he added, but he expressed concern about the language used which he feared would “feed into the negative thought processes” of those who were hesitant to be vaccinated.

Given the (low) risk profile of the vaccines, he felt that the age bands could be widened. There were many daily activities that put people at much higher risk, he said. 

Niac were being “a little bit too cautious,” he told Newstalk Breakfast.

However, he felt that the decision to approve the vaccines for those with challenging lifestyles was laudable.

Meanwhile, Minister of State Niall Collins has called for the immediate lifting of the inter-county travel restriction.

Mr Collins said he had flagged the issue at a number of meetings of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party. 

He said he was reflecting what the public in his constituency of Limerick were saying.

“They are finding it hugely frustrating that they can't travel inter-county for various activities - but primarily to visit relatives they haven't seen in a long, long time. I understand that there's risks associated with the unwinding of the restrictions, but the prohibiting of people travelling outside of counties, there's a lot of anomalies with it also," he said on Newstalk Breakfast.

Young people had contacted him about being unable to travel to surfing destinations in Kerry or Clare. He also said the current approach meant those living in more remote areas had fewer options.

People were not “hugely” lobbying him about the reopening of pubs or restaurants, he said, but they were very conscious of outdoor activities, of particularly being able to travel inter-county to visit relatives they had not seen “in a long, long time.” “I think it's just about giving people greater latitude and choice.” 

Mr Collins said he was not privy to Cabinet decisions on when travel restrictions would be lifted, but he felt that leaving it to the end of July would be too late.

“So the sooner the better, for all the right reasons.”

Dr Ray Walley of the Irish College of General Practioner’s Covid committee also welcomed the decision on Johnson & Johnson because of its easy storage and portability which meant GPs could take it to patients in the community.

Dr Walley pointed out that there had been 30 changes with regard to vaccine roll out for a variety of reasons, but that the country was now in a better position than it had been six to eight weeks ago.

Ireland had done remarkably well in terms of coping with Covid, he said. While the downward number had stalled of late, this was to be expected given how highly infectious the B117 variant was.

Dr Walley said that GPs in North Dublin had noticed a spike in patients requiring Covid tests in recent days and this would be reflected in the number of cases in the coming days. 

“We’ve got to continue to look at what is happening around us," he said on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.

It was appropriate to be cautiously optimistic, but we should also remain vigilant, he said.

Vaccine immunologist Dr Ann Moore of UCC also welcomed the Johnson & Johnson decision, even with the age limitations. 

She said that by the time the over-50 cohort has been vaccinated there will be a better understanding of the side effects and the vaccine could be rolled out to younger people as well.