Dáil debates

Thursday, 16 December 2021

Covid-19: Statements (Resumed)

 

3:15 pm

Photo of Joan CollinsJoan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

I take exception to some of the comments that have been made to the effect that there has been no difference between where we were 22 months ago and where we are now. We now have a vaccine that has worked quite effectively. It is stopping infection and death in the country. No one ever said it was going to stop infection, and that should be clearly pointed out. We also have a Covid savvy population. Even before the call came from NPHET, people were making the decision not to mix as they had planned to in the run-up to Christmas. They made decisions to try to protect their families over the Christmas period. I hope the same situation as last year will not come to pass.

I also salute the workers on the front line across the board, particularly our healthcare workers who are at the coalface in hospitals and ICUs. The next couple of weeks and months are going to be a difficult period for those workers.

I raise the urgency of the need for a response and to build up the booster programme, and access to it. On 29 November, the Canal Communities Local Drug & Alcohol Task Force discussed the issue of the booster vaccination programme at a meeting. I had attended the Citywest vaccination centre at 8 a.m. that day. I was a walk-in patient because I had not received an appointment from the HSE. I am 60 and have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, so I was expecting a booster shot a bit earlier. I was feeling anxious and went to the vaccination centre. I queued, along with all the other walk-ins. They were 60-year-olds, some on walking sticks and others in pushchairs. Some of them were very healthy and seemed grand. We queued for two hours in the cold and damp in the marquee outside. When we got inside, we were another hour queuing. It was quite chaotic. That has happened subsequently in Croke Park, Swords and other vaccination centres over the past two weeks.

After their discussion, the members of the canal communities task force said we have to get these boosters into people's arms as quickly as possible. They wrote a letter to the Minister for Health on that matter on 29 November. The letter stated succinctly that a motion was passed to ask the Minister to provide the booster vaccine in local communities through whatever means possible, such as primary healthcare centres, GP surgeries and community centres, and through organisations such as Safetynet. The task force asked the Minister to do it as a matter of the utmost urgency in the interest of public health. The activists in the task force felt, after discussion, there was a need to send this letter to the Minister. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh and I also signed the letter, as members of the task force.

The two key words in it were “local” and “urgent”. I even checked last week and only four pharmacies in our area were doing the booster programme. One of those contacted said it was not going to get any of the boosters until January and the other three were full.

I was also quite concerned that last week, up to 8 December, only 34% of 60 to 69-year-olds were boosted with their third vaccine. Obviously, that has increased in the last eight days but that was a huge concern. I believe that if access was more local, it would be taken up much quicker. The Omicron variant is doubling every two to three days. It will be the dominant variant in the next week or two. Does the Minister of State feel that 300,000 vaccinations per week is sufficient? I worked out that would mean it would take at least eight to nine weeks to cover the next 2.4 million people who need that vaccine very quickly. In the meantime, the Omicron variant is developing and could have a big impact on our hospital care beds and ICU units. That is a big concern.

Looking quickly at where we have the vaccines at the moment, GPs were doing approximately 75,000 to 85,000 per week. Dr. Mary Favier said on the radio yesterday that could easily be doubled on the basis of what we are doing now with more GP practises involved in it. They could, therefore, be reaching 150,000 to 170,000 per week over the next number of weeks.

Mr. Jack Shanahan from the Irish Pharmacy Union, IPU, said yesterday that not as many pharmacies are involved in the vaccine programme as there was in the summer when they were doing 50,000 per week. He said if there is a will and the supplies are there, there is a capacity to do 80,000 to 90,000. Therefore, between GPs and pharmacies, we are talking about 240,000 to 260,000 vaccines per week. I did not know that dentists had become involved. Although dentists seem to be involved in it now, I do not know how they will meet that. Then, we are really looking at the vaccination centres, pop-up centres and SafetyNet playing a role in backing up 240,000 to 260,000 vaccines. The vaccination centres are doing 200,000 at the moment anyway. We are talking about bringing in the Army as extra vaccinators. We should be targeting up to 500,000 per week. We would then have everybody vaccinated within the next five weeks. In the meantime, Omicron is developing. I raise that question because I believe it will be a serious issue if we leave it for eight weeks to get everyone vaccinated, and that is not including our five to 12-year-olds.

The other point I will make is about the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, TRIPS, which was discussed last night in the Seanad. The motion, which was supported, called on our Government to support the TRIPS waiver of the WTO and push the European Commission to support it. The fact that the Government withdrew its own countermotion means that it should be supporting that.

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