Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Covid will continue to be the biggest risk as we move forward but hospital overcrowding will also be a significant risk. We barely had a flu season in 2020 due to everything. Ensuring as many people as possible are vaccinated this winter will be critical.

I want to ask the Taoiseach about supply issues regarding the roll-out. What are we ordering for next year? I know decisions were to be made by the Cabinet today. It would be useful if the Taoiseach outlined them in his response. I know we had 4.9 million Pfizer doses ordered for next year and again for 2023. There were reports in various media saying that we would need to have booster shots in 2022 as, hopefully, we will get to a point where everyone in the country has been offered a vaccine and we are fully vaccinated by September or October at the latest. From a risk point of view, will the Taoiseach outline if we all need to get boosters? From what I am hearing, I suggest we probably do. What are the plans for that? Have we everything ordered for the end of this year and early next year? The CMO has indicated to NIAC that a booster campaign will potentially be needed. Will the Taoiseach please outline to us whether he believes there will be a need for a booster at the end of this year, starting with the elderly and working all the way through the various vulnerable groups and age cohorts? Have we purchased the vaccines? I know about Pfizer. I heard stories today about Janssen and Moderna. It would be useful if the Taoiseach outlined his thoughts on a booster campaign and what vaccines have been purchased.

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