Dr. Tony Holohan:

With the permission of the Chair, I will ask some colleagues to supplement some of what I might say. I do not disagree with the idea that there is potential for antigen testing to work in a complementary way with PCR testing in any setting. We must validate that use and we do not have validation in the settings the Chairman has described that show some of the things he said.

On PCR, we recommend a test pre-travel and then a second test after five days. I will let Dr. Glynn come in on that in a moment. The Chairman is correct in saying that it is not a guarantee. There are no guarantees. If we find ourselves in a situation where we have people vaccinated, our position from a European point of view - we are talking about travel between countries when people are vaccinated - is that we will not require any evidence of any form of testing in regard to that travel.

That will not be a guarantee that there will not be a risk of infection because it is still technically possible. These vaccines do not render people fully immune. We know that. We think of the risk substantially to allow us to proceed. PCR is the best test that we have. In the trade it is known as the gold standard. It is accepted and the standard practice-----