Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

A number of issues must be addressed. Deputy O'Sullivan inquired as to whether it should be made available to boys. We are awaiting advice in respect of these matters. If the advice from the national immunisation advisory committee and that which will emerge from the HIQA process, which is due in January, is positive, it would be my wish to make provision to have the vaccine introduced here. It is clear that this would not be a medical card issue and that it would be available to the entire population. All of the other population screening programmes are freely available to everyone, not just medical card holders. Cervical screening has been available in Canada since the 1960s or 1970s.

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