Professor William Gallagher:

More generally, I would like to come back to the question on vaccination and misinformation. It is a particular problem in the cancer arena. People come up with ostensibly wacky ideas and cures. These are neither cures nor robust; they are not evidence based. The challenge is how one deals with that. What is a trusted source of information and how does the public access it? Again, whatever information one wants can be found on the Internet. AICRI and the Irish Cancer Society do this comprehensively. What are trusted sources of evidence-based information? That is where communications are also important. The last time I was here we spoke about vaccines. The original Covid RNA vaccine came from cancer research work. That was the origin of it. There is now a resurgence of interest in using that type of technology for therapeutic purposes in cancer, which would be a game changer. There is a crossover between technologies and diseases. Part of is allowing that to happen and providing that environment. The word "ecosystem" was mentioned. That is what AICRI is about. It is about creating a healthy ecosystem that allows innovation to happen, but also to be delivered.