Dr. Colm Henry:

As the Deputy says, this group, who are at very high risk of serious illness, hospitalisation or death, comprises approximately 160,000 and multiple different disease cohorts. I have spoken to Professor Karina Butler about this on many occasions. They are all of approximate equal risk and so in terms of risk we do not propose to create any internal hierarchy among this group. What we are doing initially is vaccinating those we can get to quickest. In parallel with this, we are working up lists of the accessible patients with cancer, kidney disease and those on immunosuppressant medication. These are the patients we can get to more quickly than others who are more disparate throughout community and hospital services. In response to the Deputy's question, we expect this to go right through the month of March based on the anticipated numbers, while at the time same ensuring we identify everybody who is intended to be covered from within a group described by NIAC.