The CEO of the HSE has said he is "beyond proud" of younger people after thousands lined up for their Covid jabs outside vaccine centres in recent days.
Paul Reid said more than 30,000 people received their injections at walk-in centres over the weekend.
The strong take-up of the service across dozens of facilities nationwide far exceeded the expectations of health officials.
Paul Reid said: "Over 30,000 people were administered a vaccination at our walk-in centres the weekend. Outstripping our expectations by far.
"All age groups went through but this initiative makes us beyond proud of younger people. When needed, they once again showed up in numbers."
Queues were seen outside the centres over the weekend as people over the age of 16 lined up to receive a first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Paul Reid, who visited a centre in Athlone on Sunday, said the walk-in initiative would be used again, but not on such a widespread scale as the Bank Holiday weekend drive.
"Due to the success of it we are looking at how we will utilise it now going forward," he said.
"So we do expect to use it again in a very targeted and focused way not just generally walk-ins but very targeted, focused and promoted. So we do expect to use it again."
Health chiefs have been full of praise for Ireland's "incredible" vaccine uptake so far.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said over the weekend: "Vaccination and the incredible uptake across many age groups is leading us to a turning point in the pandemic.
"If we experience similar uptake in the younger cohorts as experienced in the over 60s, Ireland will have a strong population-level defence against Covid-19 and its known variants."
It comes as Paul Reid revealed to the Irish Mirror that Ireland is “at least four weeks ahead” of its vaccination programme.
Mr Reid said he has been “blown away” by the crowds of young people who stood in the rain on a Bank Holiday to get their Covid-19 jabs.
He also indicated there could be a major scaling back of vaccination centres across the country by the end of September with plans on how to administer booster jabs under review.
Mr Reid expressed a note of optimism similar to the Chief Medical Officer and the Taoiseach in recent days who have signalled the country is on the path out of the pandemic due to the significant success of the vaccination campaign.
He also said that vaccination to begin for 280,000 teens within the next two weeks, with the HSE soon to open the online portal for 12-15 year olds to register for a vaccine appointment once parental consent is given.
