Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will ask a few questions and I would like the Minister to respond at the end. First, I acknowledge all our workers who have been working so hard throughout this Covid-19 pandemic. I have also been thinking of all those families who have lost loved ones because of Covid-19. Some 70,000 front-line workers have yet to be vaccinated, however. I have seen the concern this causes in hospitals. In my constituency, only half of the staff in St. Luke's General Hospital, Kilkenny, have been vaccinated. Will those who have not been vaccinated be prioritised and vaccinated as soon as possible? I was also shocked to learn this week that eight residents of a nursing home in Kilkenny, living in adjacent properties, were not vaccinated, while 34 of those inside the main home were vaccinated. That is a concern. I understand the situation because I rang the Minister of State, Deputy Butler. In fairness, she responded with information stating that the situation arose in respect of those residents because they have a front door and are therefore on a separate list.

I reiterate, however, that we need a common-sense approach to this process. It is unacceptable to send our front-line workers to vaccinate 34 people, whether those are elderly residents or carers, and not to vaccinate eight elderly people who are adjacent. I believe they are on the community vaccination programme but that is only scheduled to begin in February, subject to the approval of the AstraZeneca vaccine. I ask the Minister to respond on that issue. We were expecting 230,000 doses of that vaccine next month but it seems we will now only get 200,000 doses, with another 100,000 doses in March. How far off the expected range of delivery of AstraZeneca vaccine will we be?

I again raise the issue of family carers, who do a marvellous job. It is important to ensure hey are on the priority list. Members of the Garda and other front-line workers also do great work, and there are many other similar groups. The main point I believe we must look at concerns information. We need an information campaign of some kind because there is such confusion surrounding the lists for vaccination. We have also seen that in respect of our disability services, which are so important. Many important sectors must be prioritised. I am trying to go by the lists we have but I believe we must look at this again. I know everyone is doing their best but I ask the Minister to look at a separate information campaign in order that we are able to go back and provide proper information, especially to front-line workers and those providing other great services.

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