Dr. Tony Holohan:

I will make an initial response to the question on vitamin D and Dr. Glynn might be in a position to respond further. In general terms, NPHET has no difficulty and never did with the measures recommended by the committee. They are incorporated into the general advice and guidance on the use of vitamin D and the promotion of that as an issue, in particular among some of the people who were at risk in that regard. We have no issue about that.

On the Ferguson report, the Minister decided to establish a separate process and asked Professor Ferguson to oversee the group he appointed to advise in relation to that, of which Dr. Glynn was a member. We were always fully informed of what was happening in relation to that. In the interests of time, I will not go back over some of the things I previously said about antigen tests. The question for us was never one of whether an antigen test was a good one or not. We knew, within reason, the different performance levels of different tests that were approved and available. It was always about the circumstances in which they were applied, and then also how the result of the test was interpreted by the person who did the test. We were concerned in particular about the circumstances and the level of incidence of the disease. I refer to doing tests that work well in a situation where you have got high incidences of the disease like in outbreak situations or in the kind of high prevalent situation we have had in the course of recent weeks. They are not tests that work well and that we should rely upon when the disease incidence is very low. It is not so much about the tests but about how the test is used and in particular then how people understand that test. I shared some evidence that we have from our weekly survey earlier to show that a very significant portion of people throughout the pandemic who have symptoms use an antigen test and get a negative result and then do not go on to follow the basic public health advice around self-isolation. Self-isolation when you have symptoms is the public health measure that will prevent transmission. Our concern is that some people interpret it in a way that a negative result means that you do not have Covid, and you can go about your business. That is the reason that we have a concern about that, rather than having any difficulty per sewith what Professor Ferguson had to say. Dr. Glynn was a member of that group.