Dr. Colm Henry:

Based on the returns to date, over 100,000 doses of the nasal vaccine have been given to children. It is important to point out that the campaigns were separate in time. That was important because it is a different vaccine with a different administration and a different age group so it is too early to say anything about the relative success of this campaign. It is a new nasal vaccine for children, which presents particular challenges in terms of communication and uptake. The uptake has been quite good to date but we are still advertising heavily, promoting it and encouraging parents to bring their children to pharmacists or GPs for the purposes of getting this vaccine.

As regards the Senator's comments about schools, a decision was made to do this through GPs and pharmacists. There is already a busy vaccination programme in schools that was paused during the lockdown. Our feeling is that we need to keep a distinction between that important rolling vaccination campaign and this new campaign, which is linked to the flu season and designed for a different purpose. It is too early to say. There has been a significant uptake but there is quite a bit to go.