Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 16 December 2021

Public Accounts Committee

2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health

9:30 am

Mr. Robert Watt:

Yes, pretty much. It probably has occupied most of our time in the past week. At the weekend, I and members of the management team in the Department spent most of our time on the booster campaign, looking at what implications there would be for the health system if people were to be moved out to the vaccination centres and how we could access staff from other parts of the public service. Colleagues have been engaging with GPs and pharmacies on what more could be done, how we can galvanise more and how we can get supplies. There are issues around the 15-minute waiver, which the Chief Medical Officer, CMO, acted on yesterday with the national immunisation advisory committee, NIAC. There are a whole variety of issues the Department is dealing with. A group meets every Monday at 2 o'clock, where Paul Reid, the Minister for Health, I and other colleagues are involved. Given the concerns about the new variant, a key part of our response and our protection is to ensure we get as many boosters out there as possible within the next few weeks.