Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber and thank her for attending to address my question.

My Commencement matter relates to the lack of provision to administer the flu vaccine in locations other than general practice surgeries and community pharmacies. The reason I raise this issue is related, in part, to the provision by the HSE that children aged between two and 12 years would be able to receive a free flu vaccine from mid-October, which is new in 2020-21. This welcome development comes on the tail end of much talked about difficulties in staying safe during the return to school for over 500,000 primary school students. I believe the restrictive manner in which the vaccine is to be administered will lead to an undesirable overcrowding of GP surgeries and pharmacies, as well as a lower uptake than would otherwise be the case.

While GP surgeries and pharmacies have done terrific work throughout this country's fight against Covid-19, and continue to do so, they are not designed to be mass vaccination centres, especially when the matter of social distancing is considered. Additionally, there exists a shyness among the public to visit these places unless absolutely necessary out of fear of contracting the virus. This fear, founded or unfounded, exists and is particularly prevalent among older members of society who are, unfortunately, at an increased risk from Covid. These individuals are also at increased risk from the flu, which is responsible for 500 deaths, on average, each year.

We are, therefore, left with a state of affairs whereby people aged over 65 years who stand to benefit most from the flu vaccine are among the least likely to wish to visit the places where it would be administered. Would it not be of great benefit to these people and many others to make use of the various outreach hubs that exist in their communities, for example, parish halls, community halls or even workplaces? These venues could be occupied for a time by existing HSE teams in order to flatten the curve, to use the Covid slogan, of visits to GPs and pharmacies. In the same vein, given that the vaccine is being offered to so many people of primary school age, why have the Department and HSE not opted to utilise the existing framework of the HSE school vaccination teams, which are long established and have been used to great effect? I have been in contact with pharmacists regarding this matter and I am informed that there is legislation with the Minister which would allow for this. What stage has the legislation reached? When can we expect it to be implemented in order to prevent pharmacies and GP surgeries from being overrun?