Taoiseach urges public to 'hold the nerve' on renewed Covid threat

The Taoiseach has vowed not to close schools before the scheduled Christmas break and has called on the public to 'hold the collective nerve'.

The Taoiseach has vowed not to close schools before the scheduled Christmas break and has called on the public to "hold the collective nerve".

It comes after reports that some schools have already decided to use discretion to allow students to finish earlier than planned, while parents are also opting to take children out of class to ensure they can safely meet grandparents over the holidays.

Immunology professor Christine Loscher said it would be "sensible" to shut schools from Friday to act as a circuit-breaker for children; however, the Government is adamant that schools will remain open as scheduled.

Chief medical officer Tony Holohan last night briefed Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan on the threat of the Omicron variant which now accounts for 14% of all new Covid cases.

The sheer volume of cases from the highly transmissible variant has the potential to "fill up the hospitals and the ICUs", according to Mike Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization (WHO). 

"There's no doubt that the rising number and the force of infection will generate more hospitalisations in the coming weeks, just the sheer weight of numbers will generate that," said Dr Ryan.

Booster campaign ramped up

The booster campaign is now being dramatically ramped up in a bid to protect people, with vaccination centres opening from 8am to 8pm.

The number of pharmacies administering Covid boosters will double and GPs will also be asked to have a greater role as part of plans to scale up the programme.

The target of administering 250,000 doses per week from January onwards will be brought forward and additional vaccination centres will also be set up.

The HSE is also looking at the redeployment of existing health service staff as well as the secondment of personnel from other parts of the public service.

'Walk-in' booster vaccines will be offered 12 hours a day this weekend at Cork’s City Hall, which will allow anyone over 50 and healthcare workers over 30 to get a jab.

Across Cork and Kerry, the three vaccination centres in use are “all adding to their staff numbers and extending their opening hours”, said a spokeswoman for the HSE in the region.

The Taoiseach warned that Omicron is a very transmissible variant and spreads "very fast and that is a threat to us"; therefore, people must adjust their behaviour.

'Objective is to keep schools open'

However, he ruled out an early closure of schools.

"The collective objective of all of us is to keep schools open, for one good reason is that the development of the child is very much at the centre of this and is best and optimally developed in a school setting," said Mr Martin. "The important thing is to keep the rhythm and the routine going and that is our agenda."

Likewise, the Department of Education ruled out initiating an early closing or making any changes to the Christmas break, saying there is “no evidence to suggest extending holidays has a public health rationale”.

However, given the high number of children who continue to test positive for Covid-19, many parents will opt to keep their children at home.

Pleading with the public to "hold the collective nerve", Mr Martin pointed to the already successful booster programme which has vaccinated 1.2m people in the older age cohorts and those with underlying conditions.

"We're going to get more done quickly, and people have adjusted their behaviour," he told RTÉ news.

"It's really about working collectively using our common sense in terms of personal behaviour and people doing that already," said Mr Martin.

In the Dáil, the Taoiseach indicated that Covid certs will have to be updated to include boosters. However, he said it would be unfair at this stage of the campaign to differentiate between those who had got a third dose and people who are still waiting for a booster.