Tanáiste Leo Varadkar has said people may need to get a fourth dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
He said evidence from Israel shows immunity wanes from the third vaccine dose now too.
He said if a tweak is made to the vaccines to protect against the Omicron variant, then it will be made available to people.
He said: “It does seem that the existing vaccines are effective against Omicron when it comes to severe disease and death.
“That's why I would encourage people to get their third dose, and it’s why I will get my third dose whenever I'm asked to come and get it.
“If and when a new vaccine or a vaccine-tweak for Omicron is ready, of course we'll make that available.
“But we don't know when that is yet.
“It's likely to be three months or more.
“In the meantime I think it's advisable that people get the third dose and then they may well then get a fourth dose later down the line, because the evidence from Israel is that unfortunately, immunity wanes from the third dose as well.”
The Fine Gael leader said it may be the case that Covid jab becomes a vaccine that people will receive on an annual basis like the flu vaccines.
