Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with many Deputies here today about the criteria. We have had much discussion about carers and front-line staff. Under the national immunisation advisory committee, NIAC, and NPHET, this is a living document. It can be revised. Every Deputy has been approached by many people to ask where they stand. The Department has been in ongoing dialogue with the HSE about the additional expenditure required to scale up the vaccination programme over the coming months.

Consultations have taken place with the Irish Medical Organisation and the Irish Pharmacy Union to establish an operational plan for their engagement in the vaccination programme after the initial roll-out phase. Fees have already been agreed and it is important that we give GPs and pharmacists, as private practitioners, the resources that they need to deliver vaccinations under the programme as rapidly as possible. This will include running dedicated vaccination clinics outside normal hours to ensure that normal medical services can also be maintained. The fees agreed with them reflect all these factors. While the Government believes that these rates reflect the level of resources necessary for GPs and pharmacists to administer the vaccine to a large number of patients in a safe manner, they also reflect a significant financial commitment on the part of the State. They will therefore be reviewed within six months to ensure that the vaccination programme is being delivered as efficiently and economically as possible, in keeping with the requirements of public health considerations.

This week, the focus is on long-term residential care facilities, with the intention that the majority of residents and staff will have received their first vaccine dose by the end of the week. Departmental and HSE officials have engaged with their EU counterparts and the Commission to secure a significant quantity of vaccine doses for Ireland. However, in the early phases of vaccine roll-out, there is a significant dependency on delivery of vaccine supplies. The HSE has been prudent in its early administration of vaccines, ensuring that sufficient doses are retained to allow vaccinations to continue where there is a shortage of supply. There is ongoing engagement with vaccine suppliers in relation to logistics, delivery and the safety and efficacy of vaccines by the steering board tasked with overseeing the EU procurement process. Most recently, this has included engagement on the issues of delays in the delivery of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine.

The availability of vaccines has the potential to allow us to combat Covid-19 proactively and begin to return to some form of normality. However, this will not be a quick process or a silver bullet and there is always a risk that any progress gained could be reversed. Vaccination should not be viewed in isolation from other health measures. The restrictions and travel limitations due to the possibility that new vaccine-resistant strains of the virus may affect members of the public, social distancing, cough etiquette and cleanliness minimise the possibility of infection spreading prior to vaccination. Vaccination offers hope for all of us but this must be tempered with continuing vigilance. However, 2021 holds a greater promise that we will, through our collective efforts, emerge from this pandemic with a new appreciation of all that we hold dear.

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