Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This issue has come up a lot in the past week. Indeed, it was discussed at my party's parliamentary party meeting last night. The latest update I received is that approximately 1,000 housebound people are still waiting to receive their vaccine. Generally, older people will receive the AstraZeneca vaccine in most cases because it is the easiest one to transport. That work is being done by the NAS. It is taking a bit of time. I understand how frustrated that people must be, not even knowing the date of their vaccination. They are worried that will be forgotten entirely. However, they will not be forgotten and they will be vaccinated.

I have asked for this issue to be put on the agenda for the meeting of the Cabinet sub-committee on Covid-19 next week. If it is the case that the NAS is being asked to do too much, and it is being asked to do a lot, whether it is running pop-up testing centres or administering vaccines in addition to its normal work as an ambulance service, perhaps we need to find an alternative. Could we, for example, ask local GPs to do it in the form of a house call, and remunerate them for doing so? Could we ask pharmacists to do it? Perhaps if the process is taking too long, we need to look at an alternative model to assist the NAS so that it is not asked to do it all on its own.

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