Dr. Colm Henry:

I thank the Deputy and that is a good question. It is a dynamic assessment because the pandemic has changed and this is a post-pandemic situation now and the nature of the virus has changed. The primary vaccination programme saw an extraordinary uptake, perhaps the highest in the developed world, with a figure of upwards of 94% to 95% among eligible adults. Each successive booster campaign saw a dropping off to 78% for booster one through to 30% to 40%.

Other factors contributed to this such as people having natural immunity from infections which made them ineligible for a vaccine. A theme now emerging from the NIAC advice this year, where we had two booster campaigns, is there is a focus on older and vulnerable people. The campaign, for example, which is becoming more narrow, is focusing on those aged 50 or more and those younger than 50 with particular conditions or weaknesses of the immune system. That will inform, in turn, the number of vaccines we purchase.

To emphasise again, in answer to a question from a Deputy previously, the vaccine type is changing all the time because the vaccine has to adapt as the virus changes. The latest type was approved by the European Medicines Agency, EMA, at the end of August in response to the growing number of the XBB subtype of viruses, which was causing the most havoc and for which we needed an effective vaccine.