Supply of Covid-19 vaccines will begin to ramp up in the next few months, according to the CEO of the Health Service Executive.
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, Paul Reid said the public will "begin to see the light emerging" as the vaccination programme continues.
Mr Reid said that more than 100,000 vaccines are set to be administered this week.
In recent weeks, there were 40,000 to 45,000 vaccines administered each week, but last week 80,000 vaccines were issued and this coming week will see 100,000 administered, he said.
Of those administered last week, 13,500 were to those aged over 85, 25,000 were to frontline healthcare workers and 42,000 were to the staff and residents of long-term care facilities.
Mr Reid said that plans for April should see more predictability of supply and it is hoped to issue over a million vaccines a month - or 250,000 vaccines a week from then.
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Mr Reid said there are "some very positive signs" that the Covid-19 vaccines are having an impact in Ireland.
He said while it is early in the vaccination programme here, there are indications that cases and outbreaks of the virus are reducing in the first two priority cohorts.
"What we are beginning to see is strong improvements in both healthcare workers and indeed long-term care facilities," he said.
Speaking to RTÉ News, Mr Reid said that there have been "less outbreaks and less people testing positive" in those categories since the vaccinations began.
He said it is "early days, but we are seeing very encouraging signs".
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Up to 31 March, 1.25 million vaccines in total are set to be supplied, with 417,000 administered in February and plans to vaccinate 620,000 in March.
Mr Reid said the plans will see all the over-70s (around half a million people) vaccinated with two doses by mid-May, which will be a very significant milestone for the country.
He described the mass vaccination of 1,000 over 85s at the Helix in Dublin on Saturday as a "joyous and electric occasion".
He said the HSE is keen to roll out vaccine supplies as quickly as possible, with mobilisation plans in place to supply GPs and 40 mass vaccination centres across the country, including, for example, at the Helix where there are plans to administer 5,000 vaccines a day.
Mr Reid said the centres will run for 12 hours a day, seven days a week, and the HSE may look to increase this if supplies allow.
He said that after some disruption to supplies in this quarter, he expects to see delivery settle down and there will be more predictability of supply for the second quarter of the year.
He added that GPs can be pragmatic in following the sequencing plan as they vaccinate the over 70s and the HSE has written to them to have a standby waiting list in case vaccines are left over.
Mr Reid said the vast majority of the 2,500 GPs across the country support the way the vaccination programme is being rolled out, and the current approach gives the best level of security and protection.
He said he would love if Ireland had the same vaccine supply as the UK, but Ireland has worked through a process through the EU, which has served the country well in the past, but he admitted it is challenging.
Overall Covid-19 doses given by last Friday was 340,704
The latest vaccination figures show that up to last Friday 214,384 first doses of a Covid-19 vaccine had been administered and that by the same day, 11,616 people aged 85 and older had received their first dose of a vaccine
The number of second doses administered was 126,320 in total.
The overall number of Covid-19 doses given to patients by last Friday was 340,704.
From Monday to Friday last week, around 13,200 doses a day of Covid-19 vaccines were administered.
This includes first and second doses. The total number of vaccinations last week from Monday to Friday was 65,997.
Ireland is still at 'very high base' of transmission
Mr Reid said the HSE will carefully monitor cases and transmission levels when schools reopen and urged people to be cautious about mixing together as children are brought to and collected from school.
He said the HSE has always strongly advocated that the return to school is safe and that from September to December, 35,000 Covid-19 tests were carried out in schools, with a positivity rate of 2.7%.
He said younger people have been treated in hospitals as a result of Covid-19, but high levels of sickness and ICU admissions have not been seen among the younger cohort.
Mr Reid said the HSE will be continuing with mass testing wherever positive cases are identified in a school and with community testing.
He said it is the natural tendency for people to go outdoors when the weather improves, but warned that people need to do this in a safe manner because Ireland is still at a very high base and everyone should "really hold your guard".
He said process changes have been put in place for the monitoring and following up of new variants when they are identified, which worked in the identification and isolation of three cases of the variant first detected in Brazil.
He added that a stringent approach is then taken to the close contacts of those who present with a new strain of the virus.
From a HSE perspective, he said, there are concerns about new variants of Covid-19 and how they may get into the country and any new variants that might develop in the future.
The revised measures around quarantine will benefit Ireland significantly, he said, because travel is and has been an issue, but it is important to remember that community transmission is also still a factor.
Mr Reid said the meat industry has made great strides around improving infection prevention control and that serial testing is continuing with a positivity rate of around 2%.
Meanwhile, data from the Central Statistics Office published today shows that an estimated 66.7% of the population stayed local (within 10km of home) during the week ending 12 February.
All counties showed decreases, with Dublin the county with the highest percentage of the population staying local at 79.7%.
