Dr. Colm Henry:

The sequencing that is laid out clearly in the document was informed by a document put together on behalf of the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, and the Government, by way of the national immunisation advisory committee. It is based on the ethical principles delineated as fairness, equity, minimising harm and reciprocity. It is clearly based around the primary aim of the vaccine programme, which is, of course, initially to reduce morbidity and mortality from Covid-19, hence the focus on the residential care facilities the Deputy referenced in his question and the workers within them. The prioritisation framework reflects the degree of virulence of the virus in different settings and the experience we have had of how this virus can be transmitted within those settings. That has informed that sequencing.

The Deputy also asked about the deployment of staff. It has been clearly laid out that we are relying on staff who are already experienced in vaccination programmes, be they GPs, pharmacists and existing vaccination teams, including school vaccination teams. We are planning for this based on what we know and what we do not know. What we know initially is that, as we said earlier, relatively small batches of the vaccine will arrive at first. We are awaiting further information on the first vaccine from the EMA as to what deliveries we will get and on what timeline. That will then inform how we redeploy staff from existing services and how we locate staff who are retired or otherwise as the programme ramps up to a more mass vaccination strategy. The document clearly lays out the staff that we will be leaning on. It will be those with the greatest experience in vaccination, managing rarer side effects and, of course, advocacy, promotion and explanation to patients.