Taoiseach: 70% of adults will be fully vaccinated by end of July

Taoiseach Micheál Martin admitted that the initial target of vaccinating 82% of the population by the end of June was not going to be met. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that despite vaccine supply issues, 70% of adults in Ireland will have been fully vaccinated by the end of July.

Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, Mr Martin acknowledged that the initial target of 82% by the end of June was not going to be met.

“I think we are in a good position. I think the target we are aiming for is by the end of July – and this is a target-dependent on supply – is that we will have 70% fully vaccinated.” 

The recent decision to shorten the interval between AstraZeneca dose would help the HSE hit the new target, he said, which was in line with where Europe “wants to be by the end of July.” 

Mr Martin said that June looked like being a very good month in terms of vaccination targets. “The last two weeks of June is looking good in terms of security of Pfizer BioNtech in particular.

The Taoiseach said that the AstraZeneca situation was improving and that he had met with the company last week. “They have developed new capacities in Spain and Germany in terms of fill and finish so therefore they are looking better than perhaps they did earlier in the pandemic in terms of the supplying and giving us visibility of that supply over the next couple of weeks.

“That is two big issues for us. The two big vaccines at the moment – Pfizer is the workhorse, Moderna is doing fine and fulfilling its obligation now AstraZeneca coming in a bit stronger.” 

However, Mr Martin cautioned that the supply of Jansen was “not at all clear at this stage.” 

he Taoiseach said that he hoped that all third-level students would be vaccinated by the autumn for the return to campus, he also said that good preparatory work was being done in Brussels with regard to the vaccination of under-18s.

When asked about antigen testing, he said that it had a role to play, but the issue of its effectiveness remained. MRNA testing was more robust from a public health point of view, he said.

"Third level students, we would hope to have them vaccinated before the academic year commences, but we will now then have to turn our attention to under-18s under-16s," he said.

"There's some vaccines have already received an authorization on that front.

Europe is very clear that we will be vaccinating teenagers as the European position, going into 2022.

"And to that end, Europe has ordered and pre-purchased large doses of vaccines for 2020 to 2023, they've entered into contracts with Pfizer' and other RNA producers and protein based vaccines, not just for teenagers and children across Europe, but also to deal with the variants, because their variants of concern, still are an issue out there."

He also said there could be a phased return to offices in September.

Micheál Martin said it's "so far so good" with the phased unwinding of restrictions and people could return to workplaces sooner than expected.

"Ideally we would like to see a phased return in the latter half of August, but it's now early June, towards the end of the month we'll take a check on this and see what's possible for July, what's possible for August, we were able to do more in June than we had anticipated in early May, and likewise, for July," he said.

There are 77 people in hospital and 27 in ICU, an indicator of how well the vaccine rollout has affected serious illness, the Taoiseach added.