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T\u00e1naiste Leo Varadkar has said young people who are not fully vaccinated can travel abroad this summer, despite the chief medical officer\u2019s advice to the contrary.<\/p>\nT\u00e1naiste Leo Varadkar has said young people who are not fully vaccinated can travel abroad this summer, despite the chief medical officer\u2019s advice to the contrary.<\/p>\n
People under the age of 30 are unlikely to have both vaccine doses until September at the earliest and the chief medical officer, Dr Tony Holohan has advised people not to travel if they are not fully vaccinated.<\/p>\n
Mr Varadkar said it would be \u201cunfair\u201d to ask them not to travel, when the EU\u2019s digital travel cert, set to be introduced on July 19th, allows for travel for people who take PCR tests or who have previously had Covid.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThe advice from the chief medical officer is very clear.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s saying that people who aren\u2019t fully vaccinated shouldn\u2019t travel, people who are fully vaccinated can.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause if you\u2019re fully vaccinated, it\u2019s very unlikely you will pick up the virus, it\u2019s very unlikely you\u2019ll bring it back to Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if I was the CMO, that\u2019s the advice that I would give.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause we are the Government, we have to take wider considerations into account, and that\u2019s why the Government advice, the law we\u2019re putting in place is actually different than the CMO\u2019s advice.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are saying that people who aren\u2019t fully vaccinated, including all those young people can travel abroad, but they will need to get a PCR test before they return and that is the protection that we\u2019re looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Varadkar said the CMO\u2019s advice is \u201ctotally right from scientific and medical grounds\u201d but because of the \u201cunfairness\u201d to young people, he is giving them the green light to travel.<\/p>\n
He said young people wishing to go abroad will need to have the EU digital travel certificate, and take PCR tests.<\/p>\n
He told RT\u00c9\u2019s The Week In Politics: \u201cI\u2019d say this to anyone who\u2019s thinking of travelling by the way internationally.<\/p>\n
He said people needed to be aware of the rules both in the country they are travelling to, and in Ireland for their return journey.<\/p>\n
The T\u00e1naiste also warned that restrictions on international travel could return if the Delta variant takes off.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIt\u2019s not beyond the realms of possibility that if Delta really takes off all over Europe and all around the world that we could see travel restrictions being re-imposed again.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook at what Belgium did today, for example, banning travel from the UK.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Holohan has already urged the public not to engage in non-essential travel to the UK amid concerns over the Delta variant.<\/p>\n
Sunday brought an additional 288 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland, according to the Department of Health.<\/p>\n
As of midnight on Saturday there were 49 people in hospital with the disease, of whom 15 are in intensive care units.<\/p>\n
Daily case numbers may change due to future data review, validation and update, owing to the cyberattack on the HSE.<\/p>\n