Decision on vaccinations of five- to 12-year-olds could be made within a month

Antigen testing, the booster vaccine campaign for the over 60s, and the potential vaccination of children aged over five years will likely play a crucial role in defeating the Covid-19 wave in the coming weeks, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the administration of the booster vaccine is expanding beyond the over 80s and has gone to the over 60s and those with health vulnerabilities. File picture

A decision on the potential vaccination of children aged over five years against Covid-19 could be made within the next month, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said.

Antigen testing, the booster vaccine campaign for the over 60s, and the potential vaccination of children aged over five years will likely play a crucial role in defeating the Covid-19 wave in the coming weeks, he said.

Mr Martin ruled out further lockdowns between Halloween and Christmas, echoing comments from Tánaiste Leo Varadkar earlier.

Asked about the call from teacher unions to restore contact tracing, Mr Martin was adamant in ruling out a return to the widespread contact tracing system for children, which lapsed two weeks ago.

"I spoke to the chief medical officer just an hour ago. There is no return to widespread contact tracing for children because we do not want children out of school for 10 days unnecessarily," he said.

Antigen testing

The European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) advice, which arrived in recent days, is such that there may be selective situations where it might pilot the use of antigen testing in selected situations, he said.

"But it will not be on a widespread basis as yet," the Taoiseach said.

He added: "The real issue is not Covid-19 overall for children's health – the real issue is other respiratory illnesses. The same advice applies – Covid-19 is spread in the community more than it is in schools and that basically schools have remained safe places for children.

"We have to keep it in perspective and that is the key message I received from the CMO today."

He said the administration of the booster vaccine is expanding beyond the over 80s and has gone to the over 60s and those with health vulnerabilities. Niac is giving very active consideration to healthcare workers and the administration of the booster vaccine there, he said.

Mr Martin said the European Medicines Agency (EMA) will, first of all, give the issue consideration and then NIAC and Irish authorities will give it consideration. That could take a month, he said.

"But that is some weeks away – probably a month away before the [Irish] authorities are in a position to make an assessment in respect of vaccines for children," he said.