(Source: Wikimedia Commons)A member of the Government's Covid Advisory Group expects another booster campaign will be launched in the autumn.
It comes as the Tánaiste is warning the country could be at the start of a 'summer wave' of Covid-19.
The number of patients in hospital with the virus has almost doubled over the past two weeks, going from 183 to 355.
However, the number of Covid patients in ICU remains quite stable, at 24.
Trinity College immunologist Luke O'Neill says people could be offered a fourth or fifth vaccine dose if case numbers peak in the autumn:
"The good thing is, if there is increased infection, the vaccine will protect against severe disease. The big question is, come September or October, will we see a big spike? Because we're back indoors again and this spreads indoors and what do we do about that?
The Covid Advisory Group is very much planning for what's going to happen in the autumn. It's like there'll be another vaccination campaign - a fourth or fifth shot."
