Dr. Colm Henry:

On Covid, the numbers are very steady at the moment, thankfully. There are always a number of variants coming out and some of the newer ones that we were worried about some weeks ago have arrived here, but there is no suggestion yet that there is what we call immune evasion or any greater morbidity associated with them, and the pressure on the hospitals is not significant at this point in time. However, we have learned the price of not being vigilant when it comes to health protection and surveillance of new variants coming through.

The vaccination programme is well under way for both influenza and Covid-19 and there is good uptake. As the Senator said, it is too early for an update and we usually report at the end of the season. We are having a particular push this year on the importance of healthcare workers taking up both the influenza and Covid-19 vaccines, building on the figure we reached last year of 55%. There is also a particular focus on the flu vaccine for younger people in terms of bringing the vaccine directly to schools, rather than relying on parents bringing their children because that has not met with great success in recent years. With regard to HPV, there is a slow uptake in regard to the once-off extended programme both for school girls and boys, and beyond. I will bring back an updated report on where we are against the targets for that.