Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank our witnesses. I will start with something mentioned in the opening statement, the changed landscape as regards sepsis and infections in hospitals since the Covid-19 pandemic. In other jurisdictions, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, some of the sepsis strategies I looked at had things, especially for children, around ensuring vaccine roll-outs were effective and comprehensive. That sometimes infections such as pneumonia, flu or meningitis were underlying issues was part of the strategy and vaccine roll-outs were part of the sepsis story. I was interested to see that, in his opening statement, Dr. Henry referred to the increase in group A strep. Will he expand on how vaccines relate to sepsis and the public health programmes that are already in place and on what changes Covid-19 has brought to the issue?