Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I apologise to the witnesses. I had business in the Dáil where the Social Democrats had tabled a motion so I had to drop out of the meeting for a while.

I join others in paying tribute to all of the work done by NPHET. Personally and individually the witnesses must be absolutely exhausted at this stage. On behalf of my constituents and many others, I thank them very much for their enormous work over the past two years. This meeting is really an update on the lifting of restrictions. It is very welcome to hear the upbeat projections forecast by the Chief Medical Officer. We are all greatly relieved and looking forward to getting back to normality in our lives and doing things we have missed for so long. This is a great tribute to everybody involved in the national effort against Covid.

I want to raise questions about the cohort of people who are not able to start going out and are not necessarily celebrating the lifting of restrictions. I am speaking in particular about the very sizeable cohort of people who are immunocompromised. To a large extent they have been in the dark, and they are still in the dark, with regard to plans for their protection. I want to raise several issues. Obviously there is the question of another booster and a fourth vaccine for them. They do not know what the plan is. How will they find out where will they get the vaccine and when it will be rolled out? Does Dr. Holohan have information for this group of people?

We know from the work Rachel Lavin did that there are in excess of 109,000 people in this category. This is a substantial number of people. To a large extent they feel more vulnerable and more exposed now that restrictions have been lifted. All kinds of issues arise for families who have an immunocompromised member. What about children going to school now that things are more relaxed? There is a greater danger of the virus being brought into the home. Can Dr. Holohan shed any light on this? When is this cohort of people likely to receive their booster in a fourth vaccine? When is it likely to be rolled out? When will they be notified of this?

My next question is on antivirals in situations where people who are immunocompromised contract the virus. In the UK there is a clear plan for the roll-out of antivirals for such patients if they contract the condition. There does not seem to be any plan here. When is the plan likely to be announced? What role will NPHET have in this? I would appreciate responses on these issues.