Results 1-20 of 34 for flu speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (6 Oct 2022)

Leo Varadkar: I am aware of the increase in overcrowding in our emergency departments in recent weeks. We are concerned going into winter, with Covid cases rising again and the risk of a flu season, that our hospitals could be extremely busy. With that in mind, the Minister for Health and the HSE have developed a winter plan and there will be bespoke plans for particular hospitals and regions. That is...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (9 Dec 2021)

Leo Varadkar: ...improving epidemiological situation, there are three concerns, in particular. First, the certainty of increased social mixing as we approach Christmas and the impact that that might have. There is a flu season that we did not experience last year but expect to experience this year. Our immunity to the flu has waned as a consequence of social distancing for the past year or two. There...

Seanad: Covid-19 and the New Measures (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (7 Dec 2021)

Leo Varadkar: ...decisions we did so based on strong public health advice and three concerns in particular: first, the certainty of increased social mixing as we approach Christmas and the impact that might have; a flu season that we did not experience last year but expect to experience this year and, of course, our immunity to the flu has waned as a consequence of social distancing; and, particularly,...

Seanad: Covid-19 and the New Measures (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (7 Dec 2021)

Leo Varadkar: ...There are three reasons we have reimposed these restrictions. The first is increased social mixing in the run-up to Christmas, which may increase the caseload. This almost certainly will happen. The flu season is almost certainly going to happen. I hope it will not be a bad one but it will probably happen. There is also uncertainty about Omicron. I am not sure we will be certain...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Nov 2021)

Leo Varadkar: ...the fact that there are many other respiratory illnesses and viruses circulating in the community. With so many people, hundreds of thousands of people every day, experiencing symptoms of cold, flu, Covid-19 and other illnesses, no system in any country could cope with this level of demand. That is the situation we are in now. As is the case during many periods of the pandemic, it is...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (24 Jun 2021)

Leo Varadkar: We had our best flu vaccine programme ever last year and, ironically, it was the year in which we had zero flu. That is the way these things go sometimes. It is probably the first time in a very long time, if not generations, that no case of influenza was recorded in the State during the winter period. We are not making the assumption that will be case this winter. There is a real risk,...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (4 Feb 2021)

Leo Varadkar: ...very sick and dying if they get coronavirus. Once coronavirus is prevalent in the community, it is very hard to keep it out of a nursing home, in the same way that it is not possible to keep flu out of a nursing home in any given winter. For exactly this reason, because nursing home residents are at such high risk of getting sick and dying from this virus, they were the group that was...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Dec 2020)

Leo Varadkar: ...this is a very new vaccine. We are indemnifying the companies that produce it, as are other member states. I do not know what private enterprises intend to do. I am aware that they sometimes buy the flu vaccine and provide it as a benefit to their staff. This is unlikely on this occasion, first of all because they have not entered into pre-purchase agreements with the production...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (19 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The winter flu vaccine programme has been a success and more people in Ireland will be vaccinated against the flu this year than ever before. However, notwithstanding the fact that we ordered more doses than in previous years, demand has exceeded supply and we must prioritise those who are most at risk. There are more doses available, but they have to be prioritised for obvious reasons. ...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (5 Nov 2020)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy has raised a few important issues. With regard to the flu vaccine, there is very high demand for it at present, which is encouraging. People who did not seek the flu vaccination in previous years are seeking to be vaccinated this year and this is a real positive. Supply is short, not just in Ireland but internationally. There is more on the way. No matter what happens, we will...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (8 Oct 2020)

Leo Varadkar: As a result of the pandemic this year, there will be a big increase in the number of people who will want a vaccination against flu. As the Deputy knows, either for the first time or the first time in a very long time, children between ages two and 12 will get a vaccination against the flu and there will be a really good uptake this year. I found it quite alarming that in previous years,...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 Sep 2020)

Leo Varadkar: ...will be like. We cannot know for sure to what extent Covid will be an issue during the winter and whether the current number of cases will continue to rise or fall back. We do not know what the flu season will look like. Indications from the southern hemisphere, where it starts, and the vaccination programme we are introducing will perhaps mean that the flu season this winter will not...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: ...time because this is going to be really important as we head into the winter. We are very closely watching what is happening in the southern hemisphere, where countries are now entering the winter flu season. We need to watch what happens there in order to inform what we do here. Everyone knows that the flu comes every winter. What many people probably do not know is that every year...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Jul 2020)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy will know, the flu vaccine for the northern hemisphere is formulated based on what the flu looks like in the southern hemisphere, because it starts there and spreads to the northern hemisphere. It may be the case - I might be wrong - but I suspect that the vaccine has not yet been formulated, let alone produced. It would not, therefore, be possible for us to have secured a...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 - Vote 32 - Business, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised) (30 Jun 2020)

Leo Varadkar: ...premises unless it was somehow grossly negligent or responsible for it. To my knowledge, nobody has every successfully sued a business or crèche because they or their kid got chickenpox or the flu on its premises. I do not see why that would apply to Covid but stranger things have happened in the courts with regard to compensation claims. The issue of business disruption insurance...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (11 Jun 2020)

Leo Varadkar: ...that may not be viable. The virus being so successfully suppressed in our community now allows us to re-examine that, and NPHET is doing some work on that in consultation with us. Regarding the flu vaccine, the Minister for Health has announced the biggest expansion ever of the flu vaccination programme. Children will get the vaccine this autumn, for example, as will many more...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (27 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: ...also for future outbreaks of new viruses. This means building up a much better and permanent public health infrastructure to test for, track, trace and treat infectious diseases, not just Covid. Linked to this should be a new focus on well-being, for example through an enhanced vaccine programme such as the enhanced flu vaccine programme for this winter, which we have planned already....

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (21 May 2020)

Leo Varadkar: ...a positivity rate of 2.5%, a decrease on last week but still a little too high. Testing has been ramped up to meet the scale of this crisis, and this week the HSE reached its target of having the capacity to test 15,000 people every day, with capacity of up to 100,000 per week. As the Chief Medical Officer said on Tuesday, we need to be fluid. We have more than sufficient capacity right...

Health (Covid-19): Statements (23 Apr 2020)

Leo Varadkar: ...where there are great staff, where there has been PPE available and there are single or double rooms, and where everyone has done everything right, we have still seen the virus get in just as flu does in the winter season. It is important to bear that in mind.

Health (Covid-19): Statements (23 Apr 2020)

Leo Varadkar: ...in new cases and to prevent more deaths. We must do everything we can to avoid a post-peak wave or a deadly second wave, which, as we know, occurred in the cases of H1N1 and during the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918. When this is over we will awaken our society and our economy, and the actions we take to do so must be taken in a safe, appropriate, phased and timely way. I look forward to...