Dr Tony Holohan is optimistic that the remaining restrictions in Ireland will be gone before Christmas but warned that the vaccination programme will be the key factor.
Speaking on Tuesday afternoon at the Department of Health, the CMO said he hoped remaining restrictions could be gone “much sooner” than Christmas.
“It’s hard to be certain about in advance but obviously our hope and ambition is that we might get there much sooner than that,” he said.
Holohan adds: “Obviously it’s going to depend on us getting as far as we reasonably can in terms of our vaccine but the nature of vaccination and the time it takes for an individual to receive both doses and then to become vaccinated it will be well into September by the time we complete the vaccination programme,” he said.
The CMO also noted that the uptake in f vaccination will be key in determining whether “unsafe” activities can return and that Ireland may be in that place in “four to six weeks”.
In terms of Ireland's vaccine programme, the CEO of the HSE Paul Reid has said: "The gap between adults partially and fully vaccinated continues to close. Almost 86% of adults are fully vaccinated and 91% partially. Now over 144,000 12-15-year-olds registered and 88,000 administered."
However, during the same press conference, the CMO also cast some don't on this optimism when he was asked his view on Stephen Donnelly's recent comments that all sectors "would be open this calendar year."
When asked to respond to the Health Minister's remarks, Holohan said: "We have no basis to say anything other than we expect incidences to grow. It's simply not right for us to express such optimism at present.
The CMO noted that health authorities will have a better idea of where the country stands in 4-6 weeks before noting that: "We need to keep going with vaccination."
"Let me clarify, now is not the time to say that we've gotten to where we want to get to, but we have reason to believe that we'll get to the levels of vaccination that we want to get to," he said.
During the press conference, Holohan also signalled that he would not have a “major concern” if Electric Picnic went ahead with only fully vaccinated people allowed to attend.
When asked whether outdoor events such as Electric Picnic could be permitted for those who are fully vaccinated, Dr Holohan said “we wouldn’t have a major concern to express in public health terms about that if that could be achieved.”
He adds: “We wouldn't have a concern from a public health point of view to express about an event that happened that was confined to vaccinated people.
“We are in a slightly different position than when we would have considered some of these things earlier in the year in that the level of the disease that we have in the population..so we now have vaccinated people with the disease, that are symptomatic and are capable of transmitting this disease to other people.
“But the risks of a vaccinated person transmitting the disease and it being picked up by another vaccinated person, although they exist, are very, very small.
“So we wouldn’t have a major concern to express in public health terms about that if that could be achieved.”
The CMO also urged unvaccinated GAA fans not to attend the upcoming All-Ireland semi-final and final.
