Mr. Paul Reid:

I thank the Deputy for his opening comments. He mentioned fighting against the disease overall. We in the HSE would also like to reflect on why we are seeing positive benefits of the vaccine and its impact. There are still strong levels of concern about the positivity rate, the level of transmission and the impact of the B117 strain on transmission rates. Approximately 27% of close contacts of an infected person are testing positive and, in the case of a household, that figure is close to 35%. I want to make sure that we do justice to the fact that we are still living with a real threat at the moment.

On the supply issue, I want to reassure all Deputies and Senators that I am aware the Department and Government officials are doing everything possible. Interventions at EU level at the early stage by the officials and An Taoiseach did address some of the impacts we thought were going to come at us. I know they are working quite hard and relentlessly every day on the supply. We fully appreciate what the Deputy has said and that as we have to readjust, particularly with the readjustments downwards, there is a huge level of frustration because everybody wants the vaccine and wants it quickly.

As I said earlier, we expect the reliability of delivery to strengthen in the coming weeks, especially as we head towards April. Potentially, as other vaccines come on board and on stream that should help us too. We acknowledge that this quarter has been a difficult period.