Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The national vaccination programme is unprecedented in its scale and will grow to become the largest immunisation programme in the history of the State. It is less than three months since the first vaccination dose was administrated in Ireland. Already more than 680,000 people have received a first dose with more than 184,000 of our most vulnerable and at-risk, including some of those with a disability, now fully vaccinated against the disease receiving both a first and a second dose. Ireland continues to perform above the EU average with almost 5% of the adult population now being fully vaccinated.

The vaccination programme continues to progress and has reached the community as we continue to vaccinate our older citizens. The benefits of the vaccination programme are being experienced as Covid infection rates continue to fall among the groups targeted for vaccination.

In the context of disability services, this is all being done while the provision of services continues. I must stress how grateful we all are to the staff working on the front line, continuing to deliver services for people with disabilities and their families, day in, day out. There have been a total of 317 outbreaks of two or more cases in disability services since the onset of the pandemic, 149 of which occurred this year. This has been a significant challenge for service users and staff. Services have done their utmost to keep people safe. I am pleased to report that two thirds of the disability outbreaks in 2021 have now been declared as closed as of 20 March. However, 53 such outbreaks still remain open.

Tragically, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, HPSC, has advised that we have lost 35 service users to Covid in these outbreaks. To lose a loved one is always painful. To lose one during the pandemic, where nobody can shake a hand or give a hug, compounds it. To those families who have lost loved ones, I pass on my sincere condolences.

The most frequently asked questions I get about the roll-out of the vaccination are for people with disabilities and their carers. As the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, will confirm, we have had a number of conversations in recent months about this. I have also had discussions with several officials in the Department of Health and the HSE to ensure we can provide clarity around when people with disabilities will be vaccinated. From the very beginning, the vaccination programme has been built on fairness. The focus has been on ensuring those who face the greatest risk of severe disease and death, the oldest and most vulnerable in society, as well as those who care for them, were prioritised for vaccines.

Last month, the vaccination allocation strategy was revised to take into account the latest clinical and medical advice based on national and international evidence. Those with a medical condition that puts them into a very high risk of severe disease and death are now being vaccinated in group four. I am delighted the HSE recently began vaccinating this vulnerable group. This provides people with disabilities further reassurance of where they align in the vaccination allocation strategy. It is good to see that 1,200 people with a disability living in residential care, aged over 65, have been fully vaccinated, while an additional 4,000 people in disability services were vaccinated up to the week of 13 March. It is important to note too that disability services staff who are front-line healthcare workers are scheduled for vaccination as part of the prioritised healthcare worker cohort.

Next Monday, the vaccination programme will be three months old. Truly remarkable progress has been made in such a short space of time. There is no doubt that there will continue to be challenges but the programme has already demonstrated its agility in responding to unpredictable changes in delivery schedules and changes to clinical evidence. The programme sets out from the start to protect our most vulnerable, along with the front-line healthcare workers who place themselves at great personal risk to care for them. The vaccines are proving to be more than effective and more than we could have hoped for.

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