The World Health Organisation is warning that people who get the coronavirus vaccine will have to follow the same public health measures as everyone else in the short term.

While both Pfizer and Moderna have found their vaccines to be highly effective against the virus, the trials focused on preventing symptoms rather than transmission.

It means it is too early to say whether either vaccine prevents people from becoming infected with the virus and passing it on to others.

Trials of the vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZenica found fewer asymptomatic cases among people given their vaccine – which may suggest extra protection against transmission as well as the effects of the virus itself.

WHO Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan. Image: Wiki

Speaking at a virtual press conference last night, WHO Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan said more information is needed.

“I think, until we know more, we need to assume that people who have been vaccinated also need to take the same precautions until there is certain level of herd immunity, of course that has been built into the population.

“This is a dynamic and evolving field and our understanding and our recommendations will change as we get more follow-up data from these trials.”

She said there was also no evidence that countries like Australia and New Zealand could lift their strict quarantine rules for people who have been vaccinated.

"I don't believe we have the evidence on any of the vaccines to be confident that it's going to prevent people from actually getting the infection and therefore being able to pass it on,” she said.

Dr Michael J. Ryan, Executive Director of the World Health Organization Health Emergencies Programme, 15-02-2020. Image: Tobias Hase/DPA/PA Images

Meanwhile, Dr Mike Ryan, Director of the WHO's Health Emergencies Programme said the virus is here to stay.

“The likely scenario is the virus will become another endemic virus,” he said.

“A virus that will remain somewhat of a threat but a very low-level threat in the context of an effective global vaccination program.

"With the existence of a vaccine, even at a high efficacy, there's no guarantee of eliminating or eradicating an infectious disease, that is a very high bar for us to be able to get over.”

He said the concern for health authorities around the world “first and foremost! Must be to gain “good control of this epidemic so our societies can return to normal.”

“Then we can deal with the moon-shot of potentially being able to eliminate or eradicate this virus. But at this point, based on the tools and the knowledge we have, that's impossible to say at this point.”

It comes as Ireland prepares to administer the Pfizer vaccine to patients for the first time this morning.

HSE chief Paul Reid said the rollout of the vaccine programme represents a “great beacon of light” for the country.