Vivienne Clarke
Immunology expert professor Paul Moynagh has called for rapid antigen tests to be used for children who display symptoms of Covid-19 or are deemed close contacts.
If such test results were negative then the children could continue to go to school, he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
Runny noses and similar symptoms were likely to be common during the winter and antigen tests would be good at determining if a person had an infectious level of the virus, he explained.
He also said that it would be beneficial to reintroduce contact tracing for school children, so they could use an antigen test if identified as a close contact.
Prof Moynagh also expressed surprise that Niac had not yet given approval for a booster campaign for health care workers some of whom had received their first vaccine 10 months ago which meant that the protection could now be waning.
"A booster campaign would be enormously helpful," he said.
Many health care workers had received the AstraZeneca vaccine for their first and second doses, Professor Moynagh explained. If they were to receive the Pfizer vaccine as their booster dose that would give them a high level of immune response, he added.
Professor Moynagh said that the breakthrough cases of Covid that were being seen now among healthcare workers could be as a result of waning immunity which highlighted the need for booster vaccines.
