Wedding parties extended to 100 vaccinations extended to 12- to 15-year-olds

The Cabinet has decided to increase the limit of number of guests permitted at a wedding to 100 from August 5th and to extended Covid vaccines to children aged between 12 and 15 years of age.

A number of Ministers supported the decision around wedding parties in light of the accelerated pace of the vaccination campaign with around 70 per cent of adults now fully vaccinated.

It is also understood the Cabinet has agreed to give baptisms the green light to proceed.

Ministers have also agreed to extend the vaccination campaign to include children between the ages of 12 and 15.

The Cabinet made this decision on vaccination on the basis of a recommendation from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (Niac).

The consent of parents would be needed, and the Government will roll out an information campaign.

Senior Government sources said Niac opted to recommend vaccinations for all children between 12 and 15 rather than just vulnerable children, after considering the balance of risks between both options.

The vaccination campaign for this age cohort will start “as soon as possible”.

It is understood 12- to 15-year-olds could be offered an appointment as early as next week, once the Health Service Executive (HSE) puts a plan to vaccinate this age cohort into operation.

The HSE will spend a number of days this week making arrangements to accommodate the new cohort - this will involve allowing parents to register their child on the portal, and accompany them to the relevant vaccinations centres.

Separately the HSE will also organise walk-in clinics to vaccination centres this weekend, sources confirmed, although not for this age group.

Earlier, immunovirologist professor Liam Fanning called on all parents and guardians to encourage children aged 12 to 15 to be vaccinated.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show, Prof Fanning said that trials in Israel had shown good clinical efficacy of the vaccine in that age cohort with an 80-100 per cent measure of protection. “It was a robust trial.”

The level of prioritisation for the vulnerable in that age group would be a matter for Niac, he said but added he would encourage all parents and guardians to get children to have the vaccine. “They do need to be vaccinated, there is still the spectre of long Covid.”

Ireland was a society of nuclear families, and children could be a repository for the virus, Prof Fanning said, Having teenagers vaccinated would give a more robust protection for education, he added.

Any parents or guardians with concerns about the vaccine should discuss the risks and the benefits, Prof Fanning said, adding risks were “very rare” and contracting Covid-19 would be much more serious.

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