A Clare restaurateur has hit out over the revelation NPHET didn’t take into account the changes to the vaccine programme when issuing advice on the resumption of indoor dining.
The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly is refuting claims from other Cabinet Ministers that incorrect information was supplied by the country’s top health officials.
While the Taoiseach has insisted that the updates to modeling wouldn’t have changed the decision to delay the re-opening of indoor dining.
Clare FM’s Sally-Anne Barrett reports.
During questioning from opposition party members, the country’s Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan, confirmed that the modelling issued ahead of Cabinet’s decision to delay indoor dining to at least July 19th, did not take into account a faster vaccine roll-out.
This means the predictions used in decision-making were already out of date, and likely more pessimistic than they should have been.
It’s also in contradiction to what the Taoiseach Micheal Martin told Ministers on Tuesday.
However, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly today insists it was made clear to his Cabinet Colleagues that the information presented to them from public health officials didn’t take into account NIAC’s recommendation that the AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson vaccines can now be used in all age groups.
Minister Donnelly says he was surprised other TD’s felt they were given incorrect information.
Meanwhile health experts are conflicted as to what impact updated predictions from the country’s top health officials would have had on the decision to extend the ban on indoor service to at least mid-July.
Professor Sam McConkey from the Royal College of Surgeons doesn’t think it makes that much of a difference in the predicted risk posed by the Delta variant.
But, Immunologist Professor Luke O’Neill thinks factoring in changes to the vaccine programme could throw up some changes to the modelling.
A prominent Clare restaurateur believes the latest confusion over the data which influenced the government’s decision to keep indoor dining off-limits is just the latest in a minefield of changing guidelines and recommendations.
Brian O’Neill, Managing Director of Rowan Tree Hospitality feels that the tide is turning and that the health crisis will soon shift to a financial crisis as strict public health guidelines continue.
Brian believes that indoor hospitality won’t return until after the August Bank Holiday weekend at the earliest.
