The deputy chief medical officer, Dr Ronan Glynn, has insisted that no short cuts have been taken in relation to the COVID-19 vaccines that will soon be made available in Ireland.

The country is expected to deploy at least two vaccines as part of a national vaccination programme from January, pending authorisation by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

Dr Glynn acknowledged that people are wondering how these vaccines were developed so quickly, when normally this process takes about 10 years. The first reports about an then-unknown illness only started coming out of China in December 2019.

In an opinion piece published by the Department of Health, he explained that there are a number of reasons why the timeline "has been really cut down for COVID-19 vaccine candidates".

The first reasons is that there have been huge levels of investment and scientific and medical research, "on a scale never previously seen in vaccine development".

Second, the vaccine trials were able to quickly measure differences in disease risk between those who received the vaccine and those who got the placebo (dummy vaccine) because of the high number of new cases of COVID-19 worldwide.

"Third, many of the processes which normally take place one after the other in vaccine development have instead been running in parallel. For example, large scale manufacturing of vaccines started even before the results of phase 3 trials were available.

"Similarly, regulators and those developing the vaccines started their conversations very early in the process, so that the regulators were aware of developments and so that the process of authorisation can now be as swift as possible

He insisted that none of these factors suggest "that safety, scientific or ethical integrity have been compromised, or that short-cuts have been taken".

Instead, people should be encouraged by these developments, he said. However, he accepted that there are still major barriers to overcome - the first of which is people's willingness to get vaccinated.

Research from the Department of Health suggests that 45% of people will definitely get the vaccine when it is offered to them, while 28% probably will.

"Of course, many people will have questions. They will no doubt be faced with rumour and misinformation, particularly online. To counter this, transparency and trust must be the cornerstone of our approach to addressing uncertainties and building vaccine confidence.

"Healthcare professionals - our doctors, nurses, pharmacists and allied health professionals - all across the country will have a central role to play in this process, just as they have been the foundation upon which the entire response to COVID-19 to date has been premised," Dr Glynn explained.

He noted that 2020 has been a very difficult year for many, but he believes that there are now many reasons for hope as we face into Christmas and the New Year.

He pointed to the solidarity people have shown when it comes to following public health advice and he emphasised that through our collective efforts, "we have avoided to the greatest extent possible the devastating impact that COVID-19 has had across Europe over the past two months".

However, he emphasised that "we are not through this yet".

"This virus doesn't care that we have done well recently. It doesn't care that we are tired or that we are desperate to see our families and friends. It is no less dangerous now than it was last March.

"A vaccine will not have any positive impact on the trajectory of this disease for months to come. In the meantime, we must continue to hold firm. Let's see this through together," Dr Glynn added.