Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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765. To ask the Minister for Health if persons between 18 and 64 years of age with Friedreich's Ataxia will be included in the people aged 18-64 with certain medical conditions category for Covid-19 vaccine roll-out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44702/20]

Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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811. To ask the Minister for Health if he will consider giving a higher priority to the medically vulnerable aged under 65 years of age for the Covid-19 vaccine; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44896/20]

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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815. To ask the Minister for Health if carers are included in the any of the higher-order sequencing Covid-19 vaccine allocation groups or if they are more generally considered as part of the aged 18 to 54 years who did not have access to the vaccine in prior phases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44910/20]

Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
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820. To ask the Minister for Health the position of family carers in the vaccination allocation sequencing under the national Covid-19 vaccination programme; and if for the purposes of the of the roll-out of the vaccine programme, family carers fall under the category of healthcare workers or a particular grade of key workers. [44925/20]

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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888. To ask the Minister for Health the reason persons with serious underlying conditions aged 18 to 64 are so far down the list to receive a vaccine. [45189/20]

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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894. To ask the Minister for Health if he will consider carers in group homes and those caring for persons with disabilities as a priority group for the roll-out of vaccines under the provisional allocation groups plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45205/20]

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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895. To ask the Minister for Health if he will consider adding carers in the home who are caring for persons with disabilities as a priority group for the roll-out of vaccines under the provisional allocation groups plan (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45206/20]

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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905. To ask the Minister for Health if special needs teachers seeing children with special educational needs will be included for very early vaccination; if carers caring for persons in their own home will be included in same; if primary and secondary teachers will be vaccinated as soon as possible; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1019/21]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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985. To ask the Minister for Health if student nurses will be offered vaccinations as a vulnerable group; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1276/21]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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993. To ask the Minister for Health if those at high risk to Covid-19 aged between 18 to 64 who live in residential care facilities will be placed in a priority group for the Covid-19 vaccine; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1305/21]

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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1008. To ask the Minister for Health if consideration has been given to providing the Covid-19 vaccination to teachers, SNAs and creche workers who are being asked to stay on the front line along with nursing home residents and workers on the front line of the health services. [1348/21]

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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1009. To ask the Minister for Health the details of the prioritisation of vaccination for the most vulnerable of older persons not currently in nursing homes; the timeframe for vaccination of this cohort; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1350/21]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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1055. To ask the Minister for Health if he will prioritise the roll-out of vaccinations to secondary school teachers under the Covid-19 vaccine allocation strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1649/21]

Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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1065. To ask the Minister for Health when childcare workers can expect to receive the Covid-19 vaccine; if he will consider bringing forward the date for administering the vaccine for these workers given the service they provide; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1684/21]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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1073. To ask the Minister for Health if the priority of the approximately 1300 cystic fibrosis patients under the provisional vaccination priority list will be re-examined (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1725/21]

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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1075. To ask the Minister for Health if he will address a matter (details supplied) regarding vaccination priority; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1735/21]

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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1100. To ask the Minister for Health if he will consider prioritising persons with cystic fibrosis in the planned vaccine rollout alongside the elderly and those in care; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1873/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 765, 811, 815, 820, 888, 894, 895, 905, 985, 993, 1008, 1009, 1055, 1065, 1073, 1075 and 1100 together.

The aim of the COVID-19 vaccination programme is to ensure, over time, that vaccine will become available to vaccinate all of those for whom the vaccine is indicated. Given that there will be initially limited vaccines available, it will take some time for all to receive those vaccines and that has necessitated an allocation strategy to ensure that those most at risk of death and serious illness receive the vaccine first.

The priority is to first vaccinate and protect directly the most vulnerable amongst us, that is, those most likely to have a poor outcome if they contract the virus. The priority is to directly use vaccines to save lives and reduce serious illness, hence the focus on the over 65 year old cohort in long term residential care facilities, and healthcare workers in front-line services often caring for the most vulnerable. 

All of the groups will be covered as further vaccine supplies become available and the immunisation programme is rolled out nationally.

The evidence will be kept under review and the allocation groups may be updated, where necessary, in light of new evidence.

Further information on the Strategy can be found at