Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the question. The situation in respect of nursing homes is that we have 111 nursing homes with Covid outbreaks at present, with 72 of these occurring in the past seven days. It is very serious. With regard to vaccination in a nursing home, if there is a small outbreak that is very controllable it will continue but if there is a significant outbreak the best practice is not to continue. We cannot give the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to a person who has Covid. The person has to be clear of Covid for 28 days. If a situation arises whereby vaccination cannot proceed in a nursing home, it will go ahead when the staff and residents are able for it.

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