David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have two very quick questions finally. We have heard from Britain that there may be a need for a booster shot in the autumn. Does that need to be considered in this State also? I welcome that we have now started into category 4 and that those with underlying medical conditions will start to get their vaccines.

It is important that we get that right. Do we have a central register of people with chronic illnesses and, if not, will that impact our ability to roll out vaccinations to that cohort of people as quickly as possible? Will consultants have to go through their systems manually to identify those patients and then feed that information to the HSE? We are again seeing problems with IT systems and the lack of a proper registration system and databases.

Will Mr. Reid confirm whether we have a central register of people with chronic illnesses? If we do not, will that present challenges in identifying the cohort of people with underlying conditions who we all want to see get their vaccines as quickly as possible? I ask about that in addition to the issue of the booster jab. Given we have now seen that may have to be done in some other European countries, is that being considered in this State as well?