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

I agree. Every category the Deputy has just enumerated is not only being looked at, but worked on. A vaccinator workforce of scale, over and above existing hospital vaccinators, GPs and pharmacists, is needed. We need to draw upon resources. Some who are retired will be able to come forward, for example. There will be vaccination centres in different communities across the country. The national task force is working on this right now. We will be in a position to give a more comprehensive account in the future. The key game changer with regard to the availability of vaccines will be the authorisation of the AstraZeneca vaccine. We envisage a significant ramping-up across February, March and April. May and June will also be significant because we will have very significant amounts of vaccine. It will no longer be an issue of the supply of vaccines but a workforce issue, as the Deputy has identified. That work is well advanced. A lot of work is going on in that regard.

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