David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have seven and a half minutes and there will be two and a half for my colleague. I want to go over and back as fluidly as I can with the Minister. I accept this is a difficult format.

I do not want to bash the Government over the head on the roll-out of the vaccine and I certainly do not want to bash over the head Dr. Colm Henry, Professor MacCraith and Professor Butler. They have difficult jobs and we all wish them well and want this to be a success. Everybody in this House wants the roll-out of the vaccine to be a success because it is vital in terms of eliminating this virus as best we can. Be under no illusions that this is the case.

There is a lot of hunger for information from the public. The Minister should draw on that as a positive because it shows people want to be vaccinated. We were having discussions even before a single dose arrived as to who would or would not get the vaccine. We can now see that people want it. People want information, clarity, certainty and honesty in relation to all of that.

The Minister stated that 700,000 people would be vaccinated by the end of March. Briefly, is that inclusive of the second dose?

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