Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan has said he expects the Omicron variant to become dominant here in Ireland as evidence suggests it spreads faster than the Delta variant.
Dr Holohan said the “strong message” he is sending to people is to come forward for their booster shot at the earliest opportunity.
He said the question of how severe the Omicron variant is, is still not known.
But he said the “so-called doubling time has been identified as being a much shorter interval than we’ve experienced previously.”
He said: “All of the evidence seems to be that the Omicron will spread more quickly than we’ve seen with Delta.
“The early evidence is very clearly pointing toward an increase of transmissibility, that seems increasingly certain.
“That might arise because it's escaping the protective effect of a vaccine, or the virus itself is inherently more transmissible, or a combination of those two.
"The question of severity is still not known, we are seeing a reported increase in the number of hospitalizations reported in the early cases in South Africa but it's too early to conclude.
"But the important point to get across is that even if it's less severe, if it's more transmissible and can generate more cases, that itself at a population level could, paradoxically, create a significant challenge.”
Dr Holohan said the impact of Omicron might be “slightly less severe” but that is not known for sure.
He said despite that, if there are many more individuals who pick up this infection, this could still present a very significant challenge in terms of the impact it has on public health and on the health services.
He said he expects Omicron to become the dominant strain here in Ireland, adding “it spreads into the country and around the country when it arrives.”
Speaking to RTÉ Dr Holohan said early evidence suggests the booster vaccine prevents against the severe effects of Omicron.
He said: “We don’t have an ambition to prevent this from occurring because that simply just isn't going to be possible.
“What’s really important is that we try to slow down as much as possible.
“We have confidence that the booster will be important in protecting against Omicron in addition to all the other public health measures.
“My strong message is to come forward at the earliest opportunity and get this protection
“All of the evidence seems to be that the Omicron will spread more quickly than we’ve seen with Delta.”
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