Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The long-term prognosis for these healthcare workers is very unclear. They often suffer from a range of symptoms which include debilitating fatigue and malaise after very modest levels of activity and there is no clear treatment pathway for them. In some cases, healthcare workers have been out of work for between four and five years. Many were infected in early January 2021 following the so-called meaningful Christmas in which restrictions on movement were crudely lifted by the Government against public health expert advice, resulting in spiralling infection rates. That is something the State really needs to take into account. Many healthcare workers now afflicted with long Covid were particularly exposed to infection at the most critical stages of the pandemic in the course of providing vital care to others. This was at a time when many other workers were being protected by working from home. Some were not equipped with adequate PPE and many had not yet been called for vaccination at the time of infection. The State has a duty to look after them.

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