A number of COVID-19 outbreaks in hospitals and residential care homes have been linked to unvaccinated healthcare workers, according to the HSE.
Health officials say they're not blaming healthcare workers, but say it's "important we recognise it’s an issue we need to deal with".
The vast majority of healthcare workers have been fully vaccinated, along with almost 85% of all adults in Ireland.
However, Professor Martin Cormican - the HSE National Lead for Infection Control - told Newstalk Breakfast there are some staff who haven't come forward for vaccination.
He said: "We have certainly seen a pattern in a number of instances where we were reasonably satisfied that the outbreak was associated with the introduction of infection by an unvaccinated healthcare worker.
“Healthcare workers who have been involved in these outbreaks… we all understand they didn’t set out to cause these outbreaks. It’s also fair to say that you can never be quite certain what caused an outbreak.
“This is not about targeting or blaming healthcare workers. But it is important we recognise it’s an issue we need to deal with.”
Professor Cormican doesn’t believe there’s much enthusiasm in Ireland for making COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for healthcare workers - a prospect the Government has also repeatedly ruled out.
He said there's been a "fantastic uptake" of the vaccines in general, beyond what has been seen in some countries with vaccine mandates.
However, he said the HSE will need to talk to some unvaccinated workers about temporary redeployment if the risk of continuing in their usual role is too high for them and others.
He said: "We’re concerned with their safety, as well as the people they care for. The HSE is interested in trying to keep everyone safe.
“Nobody likes been redeployed, and nobody takes this lightly.
"There’s a general acceptance [that] we are trying to do this in as consensual way as possible, but there’s an absolute priority that we have to do what we need to do to try to keep people safe."
