AN IRISH person has been admitted to intensive care with Covid-19, despite being fully vaccinated, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has revealed.
The "breakthrough" case, Donnelly says, highlights the importance of the vaccination programme and why it's imperative that people get one.
While all the Covid-19 vaccines currently in circulation are highly effective at preventing severe cases of coronavirus, they are not - like most other vaccines - 100% effective, which means ‘breakthrough’ cases can occur.
Mr Donnelly revealed that only 124 people have been admitted into intensive care (ICU) with the virus since the beginning of April.
He said he was "encouraged" that only one of those cases was a so-called 'breakthrough' infection.
"[It was] somebody who was fully vaccinated, 14 days after their second dose," he told Newstalk radio.
"What that is saying is that everyone who can, should go and get a vaccine. Anyone who has had their first vaccine, it’s really important to go and get a second dose."
It comes amid a rising number of Delta variant cases in Ireland. Fears of a fourth wave are now widespread, which caused Government to delay the return of indoor hospitality earlier this month.
Despite the concerns, HSE chief Paul Reid says Ireland's vaccination programme is going from strength to strength, with 56% of the adult population now fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
"We're now ranking as the highest in the world for the last seven days of vaccines administered per 100 of the population," he told RTÉ.
"That is primarily our first line of defence, testing and tracing the second line of defence."
