A top doctor has raised hopes an early Covid-19 vaccine will pave the way for people to jet off on holidays by next summer.
Professor Gabriel Scally was speaking amid rising hopes of a breakthrough.
One of the leading trials took another step forward yesterday when it revealed positive results among more vulnerable older people.
Oxford University gave the hopeful update after Tanaiste Leo Varadkar said a vaccine could be in production by next year.
London-based Prof Scally said: “If the supplies of vaccine start to arrive say January/February and they arrive in sufficient numbers then it is possible – just about possible – to go on holiday and I might get home to Ireland.
“It is good news and it’s nice to have something optimistic.
“The Oxford vaccine has been one of the leading contenders, although there are well over 100 vaccines in preparation across the world.
“If, as they clearly believe, they are going to get approval by the end of the year and the vaccine should start flowing months after, that is going to be really good news because otherwise it is going to be a very long and difficult and not optimistic winter.”
However, the public health expert warned a vaccine will not eliminate Covid completely.
He added: “It will just make things a lot safer for a lot of people but the virus won’t disappear.
“It would take a lot more than a single vaccine because we don’t know how effective the vaccine is going to be when it is out there being used.
“It will also take time to manufacture and there will be an interesting process going on in trying to decide where it will be used first because you would think immediately it should be used on the most vulnerable, but the correct place is probably where the virus is most likely to spread... maybe used in healthcare settings.
“It will be a rolling programme and it will take months I am sure to get the supplies flowing
and to get the vaccine administered.”
Prof Scally was speaking on a day when another three deaths and 939 infections were revealed in Ireland.
Meanwhile, a top immunologist said it is “naive” to think a vaccine will eradicate the virus.
Prof Paul Moynagh from Maynooth University was speaking after a survey revealed just 55% of people would get a Covid jab, with younger ages less likely to take the vaccine.
He told Newstalk Breakfast: “It’s really important we get a good uptake of these vaccines and there probably will be more than one.
“But if we’ve only got half the population taking a vaccine that is 50% effective, that essentially means we
only have 20% to 25% of the population protected.”
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