Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for a comprehensive reply. As he noted, there were 370 admitted to hospital in the last few days of November and early December and for the week ending 9 December there were 335 admissions. That is a huge demand on our health service.

Therefore, everyone will agree at this stage that we need to identify the best way forward with the use of these vaccines and whether we should have a nationwide programme, in particular for children under the age of two or under the age of five, but also for the older age group. Certain people aged over 65 have certain vulnerabilities and we need to identify those as well and have a vaccine available.

The way forward is to have a vaccine programme available. The medication is there, the drugs are now there and they have been approved. It is now about moving on and using them effectively. In real terms, doing a vaccination programme means there are real cost savings for the State. Fewer people will have to attend their doctor and hospital or to need that care. I have come across a number of cases and recently heard of someone who was only 56 and got a very bad viral infection. That person had no prior medical conditions but actually died. They were very healthy but picked up a virus and despite all of the efforts of the medical team dealing with them, unfortunately they were not able to bring them through the difficulties they had. It is therefore important that we fast-track this and move forward with the introduction of a vaccine at the earliest possible date.

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