Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The HSE acknowledges that it has to improve systems, but it is more than that. In my conversations with all the principals yesterday, there was a sense, to be frank, that the same urgency that applied to getting a first and second dose was not quite there for the third dose. That is not to cast blame or anything like that, but to urge everybody that the booster has very significant and positive impacts in strengthening the immune system against new variants of this disease, and especially from getting severely ill and ending up in hospital or an ICU. We know that up to 50% of those who are in ICU are unvaccinated and the figure is similar for those who are hospitalised.

Again, we have had a voluntary system, which I support wholeheartedly. I do not believe in any mandatory approaches to vaccination at all. We have achieved very high levels of vaccination through the voluntary system in Ireland and that is the approach we should take. Even now, people are coming forward to get their first dose, which is encouraging, because of the points we have been making.

On the TRIPS waiver, the European Union has been the best continent. It has exported approximately 750 million doses to 150 countries.

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