BEING fully-vaccinated doesn't guarantee full protection from Covid-19, it appears, as it's revealed that one in 20 people with the virus in Ireland have received both of their jabs.
Despite the troubling statistics, being fully vaccinated does ensure that you're less likely to get seriously sick, even if you still catch the virus.
Nearly 1,000 (994) new cases were identified in Ireland on Thursday - the highest daily total since February at the height of the third wave.
Around 5% of those people are understood to have received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, according to Health Service Executive (HSE) lead for testing and tracing Niamh O'Beirne.
Although the nation's vaccine rollout has been picking up pace over the past few weeks, hospitalisations due to Covid have increased by a third over the last seven days or so.
There are currently 80 patients with Covid-19 in hospital as of yesterday, including 22 in intensive care.
With indoor dining set to return next week, and international travel expected to open up soon as well, there are growing concerns that the dreaded fourth wave of Covid-19 may be inbound, particularly given the prominence of the Delta variant - which is more transmissible than the original strain.
HSE chief Paul Reid admitted that the rise in infection rates could accelerate beyond the speed of the vaccination programme.
He said it wouldn't be until late August or early September before 80% of the adult population would be fully vaccinated - a percentage considered high enough to potentially provide herd immunity.
There have been calls for the government to reintroduce a ban on inter-county travel this week, and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar refused to rule out implementing new restrictions in response to rising infection rates.
