{"id":23644,"date":"2021-10-27T13:05:44","date_gmt":"2021-10-27T17:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=23644"},"modified":"2021-10-27T13:05:46","modified_gmt":"2021-10-27T17:05:46","slug":"irelands-cmo-says-vaccinations-not-performing-as-well-as-hoped","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=23644","title":{"rendered":"Ireland’s CMO Says Vaccinations ‘Not Performing As Well As Hoped’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Dr Tony Holohan that while vaccines offer great protection, the impact on transmission is \u2018not as great as we might like\u2019 (PA Images)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Vaccinations are \u201cnot performing as well as hoped\u201d in reducing the transmission of Covid-19, the chief medical officer has said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Tony Holohan said Ireland\u2019s high vaccination rate has prevented thousands of hospital admissions, as well as hundreds of ICU admissions and deaths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he said vaccinations on their own were not enough to stop the spread of the disease, and urged the public to stick to the basic measures of hand washing, mask wearing and isolating if they have symptoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: \u201cUnfortunately, in crude terms, the vaccinations have probably done a little better than we might have hoped in terms of preventing severe infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey have performed and held up their performance really well in protecting people from the severe effects of the disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn truth they are probably not performing as well as we might have hoped in terms of preventing transmission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is an impact on transmission by and to people who are vaccinated,  but it\u2019s not as great as we might like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is possible for people who are infected, and who were vaccinated, to be infected and to transmit that infection.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ireland has among the highest vaccination rates in the world, with around 93 per cent of adults and 75 per cent of the entire population now double-jabbed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he said this had not curbed the spread of the virus from person to person \u201cto the extent that we would have liked\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat has to then be taken into account in our collective behavior,\u201d he told a briefing of the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: \u201cThe suppression that we\u2019re seeing (from vaccination)\u2026 unfortunately, it\u2019s just not quite enough on its own to suppress the transmission of the virus that has a natural transmission capability as high as Delta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a really highly transmissible virus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: \u201cWe have prevented in this country thousands of hospitalizations, hundreds if not more deaths and hundreds of ICU admissions, than would have occurred in this wave, by virtue of the high levels of people who are vaccinated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re not able to prevent through that vaccination is the wave of transmission.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Holohan said no country in the world would be able to dispense with all Covid-19 restrictions through the process of vaccination alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CMO did not rule out the introduction of further restrictions if case numbers and hospitalization rates continue to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he said it could be possible to \u201cturn around\u201d the situation, if there was an improvement in adherence to basic public health measures across the population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He cited hand washing, mask wearing and remaining at home if symptomatic as key measures the public should continue to adhere to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSmall changes in terms of the cumulative behavior across the whole population can lead to significant changes in the patterns of transmission that we\u2019re seeing\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt might not take a huge amount of improvement. But it\u2019s improvement across the whole population for us to turn around the experience we\u2019re seeing at the moment in terms of growth of the infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe infection is growing at a rate that\u2019s concerning us now. And if we don\u2019t finds means within us \u2013 in terms of our behaviors, in terms of the environments we\u2019re operating in being made as safe as possible \u2013 we don\u2019t want to be in a situation where we have to give consideration to what further measures will be needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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