Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Government's announcement in recent days regarding its attempts to secure a supply of vaccinations. I made a rough calculation. The WHO says 315 million people on the planet have been vaccinated out of an available population of 5.2 billion. This means that 4.8 billion individuals have yet to be vaccinated. In the early phases of the pandemic, we saw a great deal of amateur virology and at times we have seen some amateur procurement as well. The idea that we can easily access vaccines somewhere on the planet when 4.8 billion people are yet to be vaccinated is difficult to comprehend. It should not mean that we do not try, but we should outline exactly how difficult that is going to be.

I am always reluctant to give advice on NIAC's prioritisation unless I see a gap. The gap I see is that relating to people who are aged over 65 and who are being admitted to hospital. Hospitals are high-risk environments for Covid, but people are not being vaccinated. It would be worth looking at that matter because I know of a number of cases where people have contracted Covid after being admitted to hospital. It might seem some time off, but has NIAC given any thought to the idea of prioritising those areas that are hotspots geographically for the final cohort of the vaccination roll-out? Unfortunately, my electoral district, the Ballymun-Finglas ward, has one of the highest rates of Covid in the country. To my mind it would make sense to start in those hotspots.

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