Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I know, but a 92% effectiveness against hospitalisation is an important point. It was an important piece of research that deserves to be highlighted. That is the point I am making. Also, NIAC has not recommended the mixing of vaccines. By the middle of July, we will be down to only two vaccines - Moderna and Pfizer. That is where we will be once we have completed the second dosage of AstraZeneca. NIAC's Professor Karina Butler yesterday was very clear that people should accept the vaccines that they are offered. We will be in a position to complete the second dosage of the AstraZeneca programme by the middle of July. For the remainder of the programme, we need to get as many people as protected as we possibly can. That is important, too. In terms of the supply of vaccines, June will be the month with the highest supply that we will have. It is important to get as large a number as we possibly can vaccinated. As a country, we are at the top in Europe in terms of participation rates across the age cohorts, which is an important and significant point. This is giving us added protection as a society.

We can all comment and we can all have individual perspectives, but we have to go through the processes and various channels as the advices come through. What the Deputy is advocating is a very significant step. Equally, every time we chop and change, it can potentially affect uptake. That is a problem. We want to maintain our very high performance in relation to participation rates and the uptake of vaccines. The age cohort approach has worked. We go down through the age cohorts and people wait to get their vaccines and then avail of them. That is where we are right now.

The HSE has announced that it can bring forward the AstraZeneca programme - that is good news - and that, by mid-July, everyone will have his or her second dose. That will give very strong protection. I am one of those who have taken the AstraZeneca vaccine and I am quite prepared to wait my turn for the second dose.

As a society, if we keep pushing this out, we can get to very good levels of overall societal protection by the end of July, which will then hopefully be a strong bulwark against variants. I think we will need boosters later on in the year or early next year. It will depend. I think our older age cohorts will need booster vaccines, but NIAC has said that the length of time that immunity lasts is longer. That is good news as well. We will then have to look at young people and children in the autumn. NIAC is examining that following authorisations that have been given to the companies in respect of children and young people. Along with the European Union, we have entered into pre-purchase agreements for mRNA vaccines throughout 2021 and 2022.

Regarding Deputy Paul Murphy, I do not take gambles on this. He should not personalise it to the degree that he seems intent on doing. We took advice to move to level 3 in November, we moved to level 3 and there was no modelling in terms of the scale of the third wave or the Alpha variant, B.1.1.7. We are not taking gambles in relation to the Delta variant. We have taken on board the public health advice in respect of the reopening of society. We were advised at the most recent meeting that there was low to medium risk in terms of the opening up of internal hospitality in early July and travel on 19 July. We will keep this under review. So far, the last seven days have been better than the previous seven days, but we are still keeping this under review. We are not taking anything for granted. We are conscious of the risks.

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