Individuals aged between 40 and 49 are being urged to come back ahead for his or her booster vaccine by the pinnacle of the HSE.
Paul Reid mentioned these of their 40s will have the ability to get boosters in vaccination centres, GPs and pharmacies from Sunday.
Booster vaccinations for this age group had initially been supposed to start on December 27, however that has now been introduced ahead amid rising issues in regards to the unfold of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
It comes after Eire’s Cupboard agreed on Friday to introduce a collection of recent restrictions, together with an 8pm closing time for hospitality.
Eire’s Nationwide Public Well being Emergency Crew (Nphet) had really useful a 5pm curfew on hospitality and a cap on capability at massive outside occasions of fifty%, or 5,000 folks.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin mentioned Omicron is right here and Eire will see “an enormous rise in infections”.
“Left unchecked this new pressure will signify a really vital menace to hospitals and demanding care, but in addition a menace to all of society and the financial system,” he mentioned.
“It spreads so aggressively all through all age teams that we’re prone to see infections at a fee that’s far in extra of something we’ve seen so far.”
Well being Minister Stephen Donnelly then introduced the acceleration of the vaccination marketing campaign.
Mr Reid tweeted on Saturday: “We’re bringing ahead the 40-49 ages for booster vaccines to now start from tomorrow.
“Please take the earliest alternative to take action by way of Vaccination Centres (incl walk-ins), GPs (they’ll contact you) or contact your Pharmacy.”
Hospitality teams have mentioned pubs must shut due to the brand new measures and have known as for an emergency assist bundle.
As of Friday, 39 circumstances of the Omicron variant had been confirmed in Eire, which is predicted to rise sharply over the approaching days.
Nphet has mentioned the Omicron variant will turn into the dominant pressure in Eire over the following 4 to 5 days.