People who received AstraZeneca as their first Covid-19 vaccine dose will not receive another type of vaccine for their second shot.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin will tell Cabinet this morning that those who have being vaccinated with AstraZeneca will have to wait eight weeks for their second jab of the same vaccine.
The decision means the Government will not be able to reduce the gap any further than two months for those who received AstraZeneca.
It comes after the Irish Independent revealed people who have only had their first AstraZeneca jab are being told not to travel abroad until they get their second dose.
AstraZeneca also offers a lower level of protection against the Delta variant of the coronavirus which is spreading rapidly in Britain.
The Cabinet is also expected to agree new measures which will mean unvaccinated passengers from Britain will be forced to quarantine at home for at least ten days and get two negative PCR tests before they can leave.
British travellers can currently end their home quarantining after five days if they have written confirmation of a negative PCR test for Covid-19.
This is expected to be increased to ten days for unvaccinated people travelling from Britain. They will also be required to get a negative PCR test on day five and on day ten before they can end their home quarantining.
Vaccinated travellers from Britain will still have to quarantine for at least five day and get negative a Covid test before they can end.
Meanwhile, an effective ban on travel from countries in South American and Africa deemed high risk during the height of the pandemic is to be lifted.
Justice Minister Heather Humphreys is to end emergency measures which required passengers from these region to obtain an Irish visa to travel to Ireland.
It comes after an order was signed in January requiring travellers from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, South Africa, Suriname and Uruguay to be in possession of a valid Irish visa when landing in Ireland.
At the time, the Government was only issuing visas to people travelling from these countries for emergency reasons.
While the requirement for a visa is to be lifted, passengers arriving from these countries will still be required to undergo mandatory hotel quarantining.
Quarantining was not in place when the emergency visa requirements were introduced when the country was in Level 5 lockdown after Christmas.
Anyone travelling from these high-risk countries who did not require a visa to enter Ireland, such as someone with an Irish or EU passport or holders of a valid Irish Residence Permit, have been required to check into quarantine hotels since the system was introduced.
The same regulations will apply to anyone travelling without a visa from these countries once the restrictions on travel are lifted.
