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

I thank the Deputy. She is absolutely right that the take-up by Irish people of the vaccine is very encouraging. There is very little vaccine hesitancy in Ireland. It is going to stand to us in a few months' time, I think, that Irish people have been so willing to get vaccinated. In some countries, refusal and hesitancy rates are as high as 30% or 40%. That is going to be a problem for all of us, not just for them, in a few months' time.

To answer the Deputy’s question, I understand the issue and I am getting the same calls from my constituents. People who had their first shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine and are keen to be fully inoculated as soon as possible. These vaccines are subject to licences and rules by the manufacturer and the EMA. In that context, it is possible to give the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna vaccine after four weeks but it is actually not possible or allowed under the licence to give the AstraZeneca vaccine until 56 days after the first dose, which is approximately eight weeks. We are now going to bring that back to eight weeks. Although people were told they would have to wait 12 or 16 weeks, that is not going to be the case and we are going to try to bring it back as quickly as we can for to eight weeks. There are logistical and supply issues but we will get there.

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