Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I had the pleasure of tuning in to Katie Hannon's programme on RTÉ Radio 1 on Saturday afternoon in which she had Professor Brian MacCraith, chair of the high level task force on Covid vaccinations, as a guest. He is a highly intelligent and unassuming individual. He has a gift that when he talks one tends to listen to what he has to say. He outlined the timetable for the vaccination roll-out in the country. I found it to be a very positive listening experience. He outlined how the HSE built the infrastructure to deliver the vaccine once it get the supply. The prediction that 82% of the population will be vaccinated by the end of June is very encouraging. We need only see the images on our television screens and listen to testimonies on our local radio stations to be aware of the positivity of those who have been fortunate enough to get the vaccine, particularly the over 85s group. The smiles and hope that have been put back on their faces is very uplifting.

The EU has a number of questions to answer. The first one is in regard to the slow roll-out of the vaccine. I listened with interest to developments. In Europe we have the European Medicines Agency, EMA, and in the US, there is an equivalent body, the Food and Drug Administration, FDA, which looks at all the data and clinical trials and assesses vaccines so that they can be rolled out to the broader community.I was disappointed to learn that the European Medicines Agency, EMA, will only consider the data for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the middle of March and we will not have it until the middle or end of April. It is a one shot vaccine which is a game changer. The Food and Drug Administration, FDA, in America signed off on it last weekend. We have been looking in envy at the UK's vaccination programme. It had a head start because the authorities there signed off on the vaccines, for example, the Oxford vaccine, much more quickly. I would like us to use the World Health Organization, WHO, as a body that would act on behalf of all the world's citizens, so we could have one group sign off on these vaccines rather than have everyone doing their own thing.