An OECD report confirms that Ireland “managed COVID pretty well”, Professor Anthony Staines has said. 

During the pandemic, excess deaths in Ireland remained broadly stable - meaning the number of people dying was not higher than usual. 

Ireland had the fourth lowest excess death rate in the OECD during the period, behind only New Zealand, Iceland and Norway.

Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast, Professor Staines said there is a lot of detail in the report, making it much “clearer” what happened to Ireland during the pandemic. 

“Our death rates were falling pretty steadily up to 2019 - which is something we’ve known for many, many years,” he said. 

“They stopped falling in 2019, rose in 2020, dipped a bit in 2021 and went up again in 2022. 

“That’s a pattern that you see across many European countries, that death rates were going down or not going anywhere very much - one or the other - before COVID. 

“Then when COVID hit, they either stopped going down, as in our case, went up a bit in the countries that managed this very successfully or went up a lot in the countries that managed this poorly. 

“So, it’s confirmation that Ireland managed COVID pretty well.” 

New press release from @roinnslainte based on OECD report from last November claims 'In fact, Ireland had a lower than expected death rate' during COVID19 (comparing 2015-19 to 2020-22)
Unfortunately not quite, COVID19 was not good for our health!
1/https://t.co/XIaQu2atMK

— Anthony Staines (@astaines) January 2, 2024

Professor Staines said Ireland “didn’t get everything right” and lessons still need to be learnt but that “we could have done much, much worse”. 

“A lot of people are alive today because of what we did during COVID, who would otherwise have died,” he said. 

Staying safe

Professor Staines said it is important to note COVID-19 is still with us and that vaccination remains the best way to protect yourself. 

“The vaccine has changed everything,” he said. 

“Because of that, the number of people dying is staying low - which is great, it’s what we wanted.

“But we’re not going to be able to stop taking precautions against COVID, at the moment, at least for the foreseeable future.” 

He also said clean air is another way to stop people from becoming ill. 

“We need to keep up with ventilation, we need to filter air where we can to ventilate and we need to wear masks in crowded indoor spaces where we can’t properly and effectively clean the air - for whatever reason,” he said. 

COVID booster vaccines can be booked through the HSE.

A man gets vaccinated against COVID-19. Picture by: Mark Hertzberg/ZUMA Press Wire.