Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn has said Covid-19 is now a "preventable illness" and the risk of ending up seriously unwell for most people is now preventable through vaccination.
Dr Glynn praised as "phenomenal" the uptake levels for vaccination in Ireland and said "we have to be confident that we will see the benefit of that in the weeks and months to come".
He said that "ultimately we want as many people as possible across all age groups to get vaccinated". Dr Glynn said that the fact some people who are contracting Covid-19 are fully vaccinated does not mean vaccines do not work.
He said that since 1 April 155 people passed away with Covid-19, just seven of whom were fully vaccinated. He said that 169 people were admitted to