Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is reported that 10,000 people have been trained to administer vaccines, yet the Government's target, at peak, is to vaccinate 250,000 people per week. This means that in an average working week for those 10,000 trained vaccinators, each of them will vaccinate only five people per day, according to those figures. Why is the target so low? There are 800 vaccination booths across 37 vaccination clinics and each of those booths has a capacity to vaccinate 100 people per day, on the basis of a 12-hour day, five days a week. That gives capacity of 400,000, not including GPs, pharmacists and other people who might administer vaccines. Why then is the Government's projected figure for maximum vaccinations per week set at 250,000? The figures do not add up and I cannot make sense of why the Government is taking this approach.

I represent Cork North-Central. There are three vaccination centres in Cork city, two on the south side and one in the city centre, but none on the north side. From the north side to Glanmire to Togher to Blarney, there is nothing. This will result in some people having to travel up to an hour to get vaccinated. If there are so many people trained in giving vaccines, why did the Minister not look at having mobile vaccination booths that would be accessible to people at churches, community centres and GAA clubs? How were the vaccination plans developed? If the EU vaccines deal meant that the most we could expect to vaccinate in a week is 250,000 people and the Government knew our capacity was closer to 400,000, if not 500,000, per week, why did it not look at sourcing more vaccines? If we have the capacity, why are we not using it?

People are fed up. They have put their faith in the vaccinations and they see them as the light at the end of the tunnel. They are now angry because they see delays and crises. People want to return to their normal lives. At this moment in time, is the Government being truthful with them about when that will happen? I hope the Minister can give me answers in the time remaining.

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