Dr. Ronan Glynn:

On the Deputy's question, while I appreciate there will be people with very legitimate concerns, which need to be addressed at an individual level, I do not believe we are in a position to offer choice, given that we absolutely stand over the safety and effectiveness of this vaccine for the people to whom it will be offered.

As he may have heard last night, the chances of someone aged 60 or older dying as a result of contracting Covid is 85 times higher than the risk of any clotting event arising out of receipt of the AstraZeneca vaccine. I understand that there would be concerns. I am very sympathetic to those concerns and I am sympathetic to politicians and to general practitioners all across the country today who, I have no doubt, are fielding questions and having to deal with concerns. We need to address those concerns and resolve them as opposed to going down an alternative route. This vaccine is safe and effective, as are the other vaccines, in the age group for whom it is being recommended. The approach taken by ourselves and by NIAC is a very conservative approach. One could argue that a lower age cut-off be recommended but, as we said last night, with an abundance of caution the 60 year age cut-off was chosen. This is in line with Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and a number of other European countries.