Still no decision on cancelling mandatory quarantine for the vaccinated

Travellers enter the Crowne Plaza hotel, Santry, near Dublin Airport, for mandatory quarantine. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

The Government is still deciding whether or not to cancel mandatory hotel quarantine for vaccinated people.

The cabinet met on Wednesday to discuss the issue amid pressure from the business sector and after a number of court challenges from people fully vaccinated but ordered to stay in a designated hotel for 12 days.

A government spokesman confirmed that after Cabinet discussions, the matter is still under review.

It is understood there are two opinions in Government on whether to alter the system now that it is live. It is expected it will be discussed further next week.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has been tasked with looking at the exemption for vaccinated people and providing a recommendation to the Government.

"It is a topic of discussion in Cabinet. I think they will want to do that [exemptions]. It is something that they want to introduce, and not hang around. It's still under review because all opinions have to be assessed," a source said.

Department of Health officials are still "working through the ramifications" of reaching capacity for hotel quarantine this week and are said to be sourcing extra capacity for the system and ensuring there is a buffer in place for "walk-ins" to be catered for, as many are arriving from listed countries without booking their quarantine ahead of their flight.

"The airlines have been asked to make sure that people don't arrive from flights from schedule-two countries without a booking in place," the source added.

Cabinet members were also told there are reasons to be hopeful about the vaccine rollout as the country's plan continues to hit bumps in the road.

"There's been ups and downs and bumps along the way with the deliveries," a source said.

"There already was quite a bit of change. Recently we went to the age bands in an effort to make it as speedy and safe as possible so there has already been a lot of other work done. 

"There is no doubt about it that the AstraZeneca and the Johnson & Johnson news is creating challenges, but again we don't really know the impact of the Johnson & Johnson issue, so that poses a lot of questions.

"There is still hope that the June target of 80% of adults to have their first jab will be met," the source added.

The Cabinet is also said to be discussing a longer interval between Pfizer doses in the hope that more of the country can be inoculated. However, nothing has been decided.

A new vaccine rollout plan is due in the coming days.