Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I can wrap up pretty quickly; I will not use the whole slot. I want to take a moment to reflect. Senator Seery Kearney spoke about her dad having his sleeve practically rolled up for the vaccine and the hope that is giving to him. On New Year’s Day, my dad was having a general new year's telephone call with his friend. They are both ever so slightly hard of hearing so we all heard the call. They were roaring down the telephone at each other about whether each was getting the vaccine and one would say he could not wait to get it. The hope that was giving them filled me with an enormous sense of joy. My dad practically has both sleeves rolled up and is waiting for the telephone call to get in and get the vaccine.

There is a flip side to that. I know of a young mother who had a heart transplant when she was quite young. She had a miracle baby; she is a single mother and she is very far down the list. If she gets Covid-19, it is very serious for her as a heart transplant recipient. She lives with this immense fear of what would happen to her child if she were to catch Covid-19. She has been cocooning since March, which is an extraordinarily long amount of time to not leave a house with a young child, because she is absolutely terrified of what could happen to her.

While the vaccines are giving hope to many people, there are those for whom the roll-out, through a series of issues, is causing distress and strain. I want to flag with the Minister of State that while it is bringing great hope, people are worried about how and when the vaccines will appear. GPs do not yet quite have the answer. I will wrap up with that.