Consultant in Infectious Diseases Professor Sam McConkey has said the biggest national priority should be a focus on preventing a fourth wave of the Covid-19 virus.
He said there have been three waves since the start of the pandemic, describing the impact of them as devastating.
Ireland is in a "fairly good" position now, he said, and it is important to keep that situation of "good control" for the next couple of years.
Covid-19 has not been solved globally or nationally in keeping the virus out and the variants, Prof McConkey added.
He said the variant which first originated in India is a big fear as there has been a huge jump in infections in parts of England where large parts of the population have been vaccinated.
"The concern is that it might be spreading rapidly," he added.
He said while research is under way on it, data has not yet been presented to what extent it can be transmitted and whether or not the vaccine protects against this variant.
He said travel to the UK should not be opened up until all of this is analysed in more detail.
The professor warned that the gradual evolution of different variants that transmit could be an issue as international travel opens up.
"Theoretically it is possible that there are variants of concern that can spread among people who are vaccinated," he said.
There were 99 people being treated for Covid-19 in hospitals at 8pm yesterday, 10% fewer than the previous night and the lowest evening total since 24 September last year.
That is despite the number of daily confirmed cases of infection being 40% higher than it was at that time.
Health Service Executive CEO Paul Reid described it as a clear demonstration that the vaccination programme has broken the link from daily case numbers to sickness, hospitalisations, intensive care and mortality.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Latest coronavirus stories
Covid-19 National Summary
The protection from the vaccination programme is also reflected in the incidence of disease among those aged over 75, which is now back to levels not seen since last July despite overall daily case numbers running 20 times higher than they were then.
Figures yesterday showed that 38% of the adult population has already received at least one does of a vaccine, while 14% have had two doses.
Later today the landmark of two million vaccine doses administered will be passed.
Additional reporting George Lee
