COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland: Epidemiology, public health restrictions and vaccination uptake

Background: The first wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland was managed by a prolonged national lockdown. The second and third waves were managed by continued non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) and deployment of a national vaccination programme. This paper aims to describe the epidemiological trends, Public Health restrictions and vaccination uptake during the first three waves of the pandemic. Methods: Data on confirmed cases of COVID-19 from 1 March 2020 to 27 March 2021 were extracted from the national COVID-19 data hub, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) and the National Contact Management Programme. Vaccine uptake and epidemiological data from European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control were reported from four other EU states. Results: Ireland experienced three distinct waves of COVID-19; first wave occurred March to August 2020, second August to November 2020 and third from November 2020 onwards. The third wave was attributable to emergence of the Alpha variant of concern (B.1.1.7 strain) and relaxation of public health restrictions in December 2020, when weekly mean number of close contacts per case peaked at 5.2. A similar epidemiological trajectory was observed across four other EU states. Conclusions: Surges of COVID-19 continue to occur despite increasing vaccine coverage in the EU, due to the emergence of novel variants of concern and relaxation of Public Health restrictions. A “vaccine plus policy” is needed.