Tanáiste Leo Varadkar has warned that anyone who refuses to take the AstraZeneca vaccine will be put to the back of the queue.
Mr Varadkar was speaking as there are concerns that vaccine hesitancy will increase due to the limits put on those who can get the AstraZeneca jab.
He said: "They would have to wait until the end, and it's not possible to know when the end would be but it wouldn't be June or July, it would be later than that.
“The way it works is people are offered a vaccine, nobody gets to choose which vaccine they get and nobody has been able to choose which vaccine they get since we started vaccinating people three months ago and people are free to accept and decline the vaccine they are offered.
“But if they decline their vaccine it’s not possible for us to say when they’ll be offered the vaccine again or whether it’ll be the same vaccine type or a different one.
“You’re offered a vaccine, a vaccine that’s safe and effective and one that all the scientists, experts and doctors say is safe and effective.
“You’ve a right to accept or refuse it but if you refuse it we can’t give you an indication when you’ll be offered a vaccine again.”
