Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have enjoyed this whole conversation and thank everyone who participated in it. It was a very meaningful debate. I have taken some notes and will deal with them before I read my script.

One issue about which I am very passionate is SNAs and children with special needs, as well as special schools and special classes. A number of contributors spoke on that matter. Senator Flynn suggested that perhaps SNAs should be considered carers. Believe it or not, while SNAs are under the same union, when working in adult disability services they come under health and care but when working in education they come under education. In adult disability day services they are back and working and are seen as essential front-line workers during level 5. That is a clear thing and it is important for people to know that adult day services are open thanks to the huge work of the providers and families but, most important, the staff who are going out day in, day out, and supporting our vulnerable adults. Senator Flynn is hitting a very clear point on something that is an issue at this moment in time.

Misinformation is an important matter to address and Senators Cummins, Byrne and many others brought it up. There is an onus on all of us as public representatives to be confident enough in our beliefs to be able to speak back to this and speak out about it. Senator McGahon explained the history of vaccination, back to the very beginning, which proves it works. Misinformation is ongoing on social media, as well as through the traditional approach of coming in the letterbox.I have heard it and could not believe the story of the chip going into one's hand where we are all being tagged. This is absolutely shocking but, as pointed out by Senator Flynn, there is a vulnerability as well in our society where people are listening to news about Covid-19 all of the time. When a different voice is heard, people wonder if there are some merits or truth in it. One would not normally expect vulnerable people to be led in this way. We need to be confident about the whole vaccination issue. It is here for a reason and the whole world wants it. We are very fortunate to be part of the EU where a schedule of vaccines has been put in place for us. At the same time, it is important that people understand why we need it and that it is safe at this time.

We should call out the social media. As I listened to the debate, I wondered if social media platforms allow issues to run so that the Government will have to come in and pay to boost or sell the other side of the story. At this stage, the social media companies themselves should be running such a campaign. There is a big sporting event taking place in the United States next weekend - the Super Bowl or something like that. Rather than being sponsored as normal by a drinks company, which I will not name, on this occasion it is sponsoring the idea that one should take one’s vaccine. That is the right way for us to go. I call on companies like Facebook and Twitter to get involved in a little sponsorship. The Government and public representatives are doing this, but maybe these companies should take the lead by providing sponsorship in support of the roll-out of vaccines. That is all I have to say on fake news.

Senator Craughwell asked a question on nursing homes, all bar four of which have now had their residents vaccinated. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, clarified that to me yesterday evening. The strategy is agile in its approach but we must have a framework to start with. These are priority groups 1, 2 and 3 and this leads on to the question of how many vaccinations will happen and where. The Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, has always stated that through priority groups 1, 2 and 3, we would have 700,000 people vaccinated by the end of March. What is the composition of those 700,000 people? To start with, and without being morbid, we have to look back at where our greatest losses took place. To be very honest, the greatest losses occurred in the congregated settings of the nursing home environment where staff were on the front line. That is where we had the greatest loss of life. We will, of course, deal with our nursing homes and congregated settings. They make up a portion of this group. Our front-line healthcare staff of 150,000 people and the 500,000 people aged 70 years and over comprise priority groups 1, 2 and 3.

The target that was set out for the end of March was based on having a supply line, or sight of line, of vaccines. This was based in the beginning on having our first two vaccines and then our third vaccine. We have to deal in facts at all times. Between the two vaccines that we had sight of line of in the beginning - in the first three weeks - we had 45,000 vaccines. They require two jabs. We have now used them to deliver 148,000 vaccinations. We are now back to the start again because we have to give the second dose of the vaccine. That is as open, clear and transparent as we can be, as nobody is hiding vaccines. We know what we have contracted to get in. One of the silver bullets, of course, was the third vaccine, which people would know as the Oxford vaccine. This was due to come on stream. We were expected to have sight of line of that. It was supposed to feed into the roll-out of the vaccine to the rest of our front-line healthcare workers, to those over the age of 85 and to those between the ages of 70 and 85. That was to bring us to the end of March.

From the end of March, 1.7 million people, across 12 different priority groups, were to be vaccinated in one go. Senator Chambers spoke about different advocacy groups. Of course, the people with the most serious underlying conditions would have to be at the head of that group, along with carers, who were raised by Senator Carrigy, and the home care assistants who are going into homes.However, home care assistants do not fall into priority group 1, 2 or 3. It is important for people to know that if someone is a carer and over 70 years of age, he or she is in priority group 1, 2 or 3.

I take Senator Mullen's comments on board and will bring them to my colleagues, the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, and the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, who has responsibility for older people. I do not like to assume anything, but I assume that the people in question being over 70 years of age means they would fall into priority group 1, 2 or 3.

I will ask the Acting Chairperson for a smidgin of leeway. To my Green Party colleague in government, we will differ on certain points. While I appreciate the flow and openness within the Seanad, all of us in the Government, of which his party is a member, like to stay on the one ship so that mixed messages do not go out to the general public. All of our colleagues in government are together on this point. In fact, it should be non-political and we should be delivering the one message on getting the vaccine and ensuring our healthcare workers, front-line staff and so on are covered in priority groups 1, 2 and 3. We must allow that to happen in the interests of everyone's safety. As the Acting Chairperson mentioned, the pressure we are getting, including via email, from people asking whether they can get vaccinated now is unbelievable. However, we must stick to the strategy even while Professor MacCraith, the Minister and the team in the Department of Health remain agile in their approach, which is continuously changing.