Dáil debates
Thursday, 4 March 2021
Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-out Programme: Statements (Resumed)
3:40 pm
Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source
I thank the Deputy. She has used very strong language. Her criticism is essentially a criticism of the thousands of women and men who are working seven days a week to deliver what has been one of the fastest roll-outs in the EU, prioritising our most vulnerable, changing at very short notice from AstraZeneca to the much more complex mRNA vaccine and changing at short notice to the reprioritisation of people with underlying conditions. It is deeply unfair criticism, not of me - the Deputy can criticise me all she wants - but of the people who have worked night and day.
The facts speak for themselves. At the start this week, we had received approximately 520,000 vaccine doses. By the end of this week, we hope to have administered approximately half a million doses. It is deeply unfair and unbalanced to come in here and suggest that is a shambles. I accept that there are-----
No comments