Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for raising this important matter. Many GPs and nurses have already received the vaccine. Some have already received two doses, and all will by the end of March 2021. We will now be able to prioritise the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for healthcare workers such as GPs and nurses. I think home helps are in a different category. They may well be in category 6, but I will have to double check. I did hear that Bantry Hospital had very successfully provided the vaccine to its staff. It is not all bad in west Cork. I am glad to see that Bantry Hospital was able to vaccinate its staff in the last few weeks.

The issue of cystic fibrosis has been raised on a number of occasions. We will take it up with the national immunisation advisory committee, NIAC. The decision by which people are prioritised into 15 different groups is made based on medical and scientific advice. We have raised with NIAC the issue of whether people who are aged under 70 or 65 and have chronic conditions such as cystic fibrosis, or are transplant patients, for example, should be prioritised and put into a different group. We await further advice on that.

See this speech in context