The Irish Pharmacy Union says it has had a "positive and constructive" meeting with the Health Service Executive about allowing pharmacists to vaccinate all those eligible for the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) vaccine.
Pharmacies are currently only permitted to provide the J&J jab to people aged 50 and over.
However Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has confirmed that, following a recommendation from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC), those aged 18-40 can be given the AstraZeneca and Janssen shots.
NIAC also recommended that the gap between doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine can be cut in half from eight to four weeks.
Mr Donnelly said people under 40 can expect to receive their vaccine several weeks earlier than expected but this is dependent on supply.
IPU Secretary General Darragh O'Loughlin said the HSE must get a formal request from Government before they can implement the change.
While the minister has told the HSE to implement the changes immediately, the current supply of AstraZeneca is being used for second doses for healthcare workers and over 60s which will not be completed until mid July.
In a statement, the HSE said: "Just as we have done before when there was a significant change in advice that could necessitate changes in the detail of the vaccination programme, we will take a couple of days to consider it and produce a revised plan quickly".
The HSE said it has received around 200,000 doses of the Janssen vaccine and is expecting 80,000 doses next month.
It said that 72,000 people have received a Janssen vaccine to date, and 917,000 doses of AstraZeneca have been administered.
Pharmacists say they have over 40,000 doses of the Janssen vaccine at their disposal and want to vaccinate under 40s.
The IPU says there are more than 40,000 doses spread across 800 pharmacies ready to be administered.
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
The use of the Janssen and AstraZeneca jabs was restricted to certain age cohort following links with rare blood clots.
Researchers from the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland and the National Coagulation Centre at St James's Hospital in Dublin say that with increased awareness and clinical vigilance patients can be diagnosed and quickly treated for potential clotting.
Dr Michelle Lavin, lead author of the report, said there is now more information about the AstraZeneca and Janssen vaccines and greater awareness of the rare condition that can result in blood clotting for some patients.
Dr Lavin said this greater awareness means that patients presented earlier with symptoms and were treated earlier with much better outcomes.
