Dublin is monitoring what is happening in Jerusalem and Copenhagen to see if it will allow its own citizens access to pubs and schools once they are to be vaccinated against COVID-19, the Irish mirror reported on Thursday.
Irish Deputy Leo Varadkar said on Wednesday that Dublin is paying close attention to Israel and Denmark to see if these countries will benefit from the COVID-19 policy or face a “bloody catastrophe. “Varadkar, who is the Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland, told members of the Fine Gael Party that citizens who had taken two pictures could use their phones to confirm that they had done so when they entered businesses and institutions.
He warned that it was too early for Dublin to implement such a policy as not enough people have been vaccinated at this stage. In Israel, more than half the population has received both measures and the economy is opening fast. He suggested that Ireland could learn from the experience of Israel.
Varadkar is a trained medical doctor and was the prime minister of Ireland, the first openly gay man to serve in that position. He was replaced by Micheál Martin of his own party in June last year. The current Irish PM (Taoiseach) was a history teacher before entering politics.
Two million people in Ireland were expected to receive two pictures of the COVID-19 vaccine in April with just under a million other doses of vaccine expected this month. About five million people live in Ireland, and the Tánaiste said it was unlikely that one million people would complete the vaccination process by the end of March.
He said the top priority was to get children back to schools on April 12.
Varadkar said the Irish National Public Health Emergency Team will present its recommendations to the government on Monday based on the latest figures.