Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy raised a number of issues. Beginning with the Covid-19 situation, the bottom line is that we are part of a pre-purchase agreement with the European Commission. The latter has advance purchase agreements so far, and prior to this week, with Oxford and AstraZeneca; with Janssen, which is owned by Johnson & Johnson; and with Sanofi Pasteur. Those agreements will be formalised following completion of clinical trials and the Janssen vaccine is expected in late December. The emerging news is that the Commission is on the cusp of signing, if it has not already signed, a deal with Pfizer and BioNTech. The President of the Commission has been leading that process and I have been in contact with her on it. It has been discussed at European Council meetings. Ultimately, it is the Commission's target to have an agreement with seven consortia. There is enough funding across the European system for arrangements with six consortia and it will probably go to a seventh. We will need the full range of options throughout 2021 because the next issue will be manufacture. All of those agreements include specific dosage allocations that mean we would get approximately 1% of whatever the European procurement is. I will get the detailed figures for the Deputy. That will be very significant for us in terms of targeting the vulnerable and those who would be a priority in terms of the receipt of a vaccine. The Deputy is correct in identifying logistical issues around the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in terms of the requirement for storage at -70 °C.

In August, we set up a vaccine strategy committee under the chairmanship of the Department of Health. The HSE set up its own group at the behest of the Minister. We have decided now to set up a whole-of-government group that will take in expertise from outside government in regard to organising the logistical operation that will be required. The Cabinet took that decision yesterday and the group will be chaired by Professor Brian MacCraith from DCU. The Chief Medical Officer will be on this high-level vaccine task force, as will Paul Reid, CEO of the HSE; Liz Canavan, chair of the senior officials group on Covid-19; Barry Lowry, Government chief information officer; and Paul Quinn, Government chief procurement officer. In addition, there will be a nominee yet to be confirmed from the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, a logistics cold chain expert and a project management expert. The high-level vaccine task force will be tasked with co-ordinating preparations in this area and ensuring the nationwide roll-out of a Covid-19 vaccine when one is safe and ready to be distributed.

The Deputy also raised issues in regard to the administration of the flu vaccine. He probably heard Dr. Colm Henry speaking about that this morning. I do not accept that the entire system around the flu vaccine is archaic. It is a very extensive programme this year. There has to be measuring of what is happening in communities and there has to be targeting and prioritisation. This year's programme is a larger programme than in previous years and the HSE is satisfied in terms of its effectiveness so far.

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