Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I am fairly certain it was said at the press event to announce the extension of restrictions to 5 March, etc.. If we want to reduce the chances of more dangerous mutations that could undermine vaccines getting into the country, it would make sense to pursue elimination strategies within each country and to seek to keep new variants out. This also makes sense in respect of the points made by Deputy Bríd Smith regarding a people's vaccine? By the end of this year, nine in ten people in the lesser developed countries in the world will not have been vaccinated. That is morally outrageous in view of the fact that we have the physical capacity to produce vaccines but are prevented from doing so by intellectual property considerations. Also, it is a health risk for the entire world because there is a chance of mutation each time the virus jumps from one person to another. Is this not a reason the Government should be supporting a zero Covid strategy and a people's vaccine?

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