Dr. Tony Holohan:

I thank the Deputy. Others may contributute regarding what I am going to say, but we do not have a percentage for herd immunity. That is for the simple reason that the level of transmission of this virus and its responsiveness to the vaccines means that we will not get a high enough percentage in that context to control the disease on its own. We will need other measures. Even if we achieve high rates of vaccination, the vaccines are not perfect, far from it, in their ability to prevent transmission of the virus. It is not possible for us to talk in terms of achieving herd immunity to this virus in the same way that we do with a disease such as measles. If we achieve a level of 95% in that case, we know that the chances, in effect, of an unvaccinated person in the remaining 5% running into someone with measles will be very low. In the context of this disease, however, we do not think that herd immunity is a concept that we should be talking about. Our message in this case is that the further we can go and the higher we can get regarding the percentage of people vaccinated, the better we will be. Equally, every individual vaccinated means better protection for him or her from the severe effects of this disease. That is our basic message.