By Claire Corrigan
Trinity College Immunology Professor Kingston Mills spoke positively this week regarding his belief that the country will be in a much better position come June. “There is absolutely, for certain, light at the end of the tunnel – I think people just need to be a little bit patient.
We are going in the right direction and I would be optimistic that, by the Summer, we’ll be out of the worst of this in terms of having vaccinated a significant number of people and the number of cases will be lower. While it is very difficult to predict the way things will be go, I would be optimistic that we would be in an awful lot better place come June.”
He said that he believed the reopening of the economy will be based on the number of cases and not on the delivery of the vaccine. “The current vaccination is going to have little impact on the spread of the virus in the community. It will prevent people from getting Covid who are in nursing homes and hospitals and that is a major plus.”
He said that getting children back to school “has to be the number one priority” followed by the opening of sectors such as the building industry. “They are two things that are critical for me. There is now extra AstraZeneca vaccines as it won’t be given to over seventies so maybe it’s a case of giving that to teachers or those who are in high-risk positions like workers in meat factories.
Two weeks ago, opening the schools was a worry as one of the problems with the new variant is that it’s more transmissible and it meant there was a greater possibility that children could get infected. If that’s the case, then keeping the schools closed was prudent. If the numbers come down to manageable levels however, I do think there is a case to open the schools again, definitely.”
The Trinity Professor has said strict international travel restrictions are “absolutely essential” as Covid-19 vaccines show a “significant drop-off in efficacy” against the UK and South African variants.
He said the proposed 14-day quarantine for passengers arriving from the UK and South Africa is not enough as passengers can often arrive from other countries with no record of where they were previously.
The efficacy of the NovaVax jab, which Mills described as “probably the best one on the market,” dropped by 35% against the South African variant and 10% against the UK variant.
The five-day post-travel testing is a good idea when combined with testing 72 hours before departure,” he said. “Keeping the South African and Brazilian variant out of Ireland is really important and that is why the pre-travel and post-travel tests are crucial in terms of stopping importation of this variant.
I was shocked to hear that people were going to Lanzarote so I think there is an element of the population not taking it seriously. However, I think the government now have really have the bit between their teeth finally and are putting in place measures, including legislation, to try and make sure people isolate and don’t travel- that is essential. That will change the dynamic of flying. Of course, as people get vaccinated, there is talk of vaccine ‘certificates’ that people will have to produce to fly. It’s a useful approach. Also for people going to workplaces and sports venues and concerts- that people would provide evidence that they have been vaccinated would be a good way to encourage uptake.”
Professor Mills also commented on the high death toll last month calling it “staggering” but said that it was “probably inevitable” given the high cases numbers in the first month of 2021.
He said: “We are sort of seeing a peak of what happened really a month ago in terms of the beginning of a surge in cases,” he said.
“Now that the cases numbers have gone down and hospitalisation numbers are starting to go down, we should see, hopefully, less people dying in the next few weeks.”
Mental health
“Right now, going for a walk outside is not a big risk. Adult transmission is minimal and if you keep away from crowded places, people should be able to exercise which is crucial for everyone’s sanity and health. I don’t think you need to stay locked up in your house everyday, all day unless infected, he concluded.”
