Waterford, in southeastern Ireland, epitomizes the country’s coronavirus conundrum. Why is there an increase in COVID-19 in a nation where about 92% of adults are fully vaccinated? A massive 99.5% of adults over the age of 18 in Co Waterford are double-jabbed. That’s thought to be one of the highest rates of any region anywhere in the world. But, according to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, the county now tops the national infection league table, with a 14-day incidence rate of 1,294 per 100,000. Tom Gallagher can’t believe his native Waterford City is the current epicentre of Ireland’s fourth COVID wave. Earlier in the pandemic, he was nearly killed by the disease. Tom spent 66 days in the local hospital, including two stints on a ventilator in intensive care. His brother and sister also caught the disease. “I walk past the hospital all the time”, he tells Sky News. “I look up at it and just think…there are still people in there with this virus.” Tom now suffers from long COVID, and scans have shown his lungs are scarred from his bout with the disease. The 55-year-old agrees that almost everyone he knows in Waterford has been fully vaccinated, but thinks that that has led to a degree of behavioural complacency setting in.