HSE Chief Clinical Officer Colm Henry has said despite the rise in cases of Covid-19, vaccine protection is holding strong.
The 14-day incidence rate of Covid has increased by 18% when compared to last week. However, Mr Henry said ICU figures have stabilised.
Speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland, he said although the case numbers are growing, the harm the cases are converting into is lower.
Mr Henry said: "We're seeing that firewall, that floodwall of vaccine protection hold tight for the large part, in that the conversion of the number of cases.
"Yes, it's troubling, yes it's going up, yes its causing our testing and tracing system to be stretched, certainly in the terms of having a sea of people who are symptomatic with a whole range of viruses, but the harm that it's converting into is much lower than it was in January and that's because of the vaccine programme."
Mr Henry went on to say the vaccines alone will not prevent the transmission of Covid and urged people who are not vaccinated to get the jab, and stressed that people should remember to wear their masks in all indoor settings.
He said: "Just because social restrictions have eased and there is greater mixing in the community, doesn't mean we all have to do it."
Speaking about transmission in schools, Mr Henry said the HSE was continuing to see low transmission rates and said 70,000 extra tests were carried out on children in September, and just 1.7% of the tests were positive.
He said children were more likely to be contracting the virus at home since the general population is beginning to mix more.
Mr Henry said high levels of occupancy and congestion has led to the cancellation of elective surgeries in some hospitals and said cases of influenza and the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) had added pressure onto the health service.
One in three beds in ICU are currently occupied by people with Covid and the remainder by people with serious illness or trauma.
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