Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his questions. On children and vaccinations, there is ongoing work and clinical trials are being carried out. As Professor Butler said yesterday, the vaccines are not currently authorised for children but the clinical trials go on. If the EMA looks at the data and authorises the vaccines for children, NIAC and other agencies will consider whether it can be implemented here.

Pharmacists are going to play a key role in the vaccination programme, particularly in the coming months as we scale up. There is a deal in place with the Irish Pharmacy Union in terms of pharmacists vaccinating on their own premises and working in the vaccination centres. I would envisage pharmacists coming online more and more as capacity is ramped up as we move through the age cohorts. The sense is that on the underlying condition cohorts, that is, cohorts 4 and-----

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