Children aged five to 11-years-old will receive two doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine, according to the head of the High Level Task Force on Covid-19 Vaccination.
Professor Brian MacCraith added that the advice they got from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee was to make vaccination locations as child-friendly as possible, so there will be special clinics for children, primarily in vaccination centres.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Prof MacCraith said that the vaccination portal will be open for parents to access from next week.
"We are delighted that paediatric doses have arrived in the country and a lot more will be arriving throughout January," he said.
"We will be progressing into those five to 11-year-olds in a number of phases, those at high risk from 3 January and those in the broader population from 8 January.
"It will necessarily be slower because you want children to have a pleasant experience and not to be rushed."
He added that there was a "collective groan" about the fourth dose in Israel earlier this week but, said that he thinks the scientific evidence is pointing to the fact that may well become necessary.
"Work is under way in planning for that eventuality at the moment," he said.
Asked about vaccine supplies, Prof MacCraith said: "Looking to 2022, Ireland really benefits from EU membership, there is an existing EU contract for 900 million Pfizer doses already in place and those deliveries will happen through 2022 and 2023."
Asked about vaccine supplies, Prof MacCraith said "looking to 2022, Ireland really benefits
Asked if there would be an Omicron specific vaccine in 2022, Prof MacCraith there was a "strong likelihood that will be the case".
So far this week, there have been 399,000 doses administered, close to 390,000 of those were boosters - that four day total is more than any other weekly total.
"As of 12 noon today, we are at 1.98 million. I am confident we will be at 1.99 million by the end of today," he said.
The original target we set for Christmas was 1.5 million.
It comes as the Department of Health reported 11,182 new cases of Covid-19.
