The HSE says no decisions have been taken yet on who'll be prioritised when a coronavirus vaccine becomes available.
The INTO union has called for school staff and students to be among the first to get the jab.
Two vaccines have been 95 per cent effective in trials but still have to be approved.
HSE Chief Clinical Officer, Dr Colm Henry, says they'll need to make sure the most vulnerable are protected:
"While I can understand people wanting to be first in line, first in queue, the decision is really guided by a population principles, how do we best protect the whole population, it has a particular impact on older groups and people who have chronic disease, they're the people who get hospitalised they are the people who get seriously ill, they are the people who tragically die, and that will inform, as with any other vaccine, it will inform disease patterns or transmission patterns".
