It is believed the Government is examining if people aged under 35 could be offered the single shot of the Johnson & Johnson jab via pharmacies soon.
It comes after 448 new cases of the virus were confirmed by NPHET this evening - with two more deaths bringing the total tally of those who lost their life since the pandemic began to 5,000.
The NPHET hearing also revealed that the Delta variant accounts for 70% of cases now with a rapid rise in Dublin, Donegal, Waterford and outbreaks in Limerick and Sligo.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said we are seeing lots of small outbreaks in areas across the country and it won't take a lot for them to get worse.
He said: “There are embers now that could turn into fires.”
Professor Philip Nolan also said that NPHET had already modelled “what if” scenarios which would have included if people were vaccinated sooner.
He said this would not have made much difference to the modelling they presented to the government despite NIAC recommending AstraZeneca and the Johnson and Johnson jab can be used for people aged between 18-40 years of age.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has announced the vaccine portal will open for those aged between 30 and 34 at the end of next week.
Pharmacies are already well stocked to give out the jab and have access to over 60,000 J&J jabs as they previously could only administer them to people aged over 50.
The move is being considered to speed up the roll-out of vaccines here as the threat of the Delta variant looms.
When asked if Ireland is entering a fourth wave, Dr Tony Holohan said: “There's every reason to believe that we are facing a wave of Delta-driven transmission.
“All of Western Europe, we expect, will suffer from that. We're not going to stop Delta from happening. It will become the dominant strain across Europe.
“It's a question of 'when' rather than 'if'. What we're trying to do is slow it down.”
