Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome my two new colleagues, Senators Horkan and Byrne, and congratulate them on their re-election. I expect we will have a tough time with Senator Horkan in the Chair again in the not-too-distant future but I am delighted for him. I endorse what my colleague, Senator Boyhan, said but I am not going to go back over that ground.

I am one of those who was able to register for the vaccine last week. It is with a heavy heart that I come in today to state I am absolutely petrified.I cannot outline how petrified I am. I am being given one option and one option only, which is AstraZeneca. I understand there are rare instances of blood clots as a result of taking the AstraZeneca vaccine. I suffer from coronary artery disease. I still have some blockages in my coronary arteries that could not be treated 20 years ago when I had stents inserted. I do not want to get a clot. Nobody will explain to me how it is okay for me, over the age of 60, to receive AstraZeneca but it is not for somebody under the age of 60. I know nobody wants to hear this because we want people to take up the vaccine. I want the vaccine. I want to be able to return to a normal life where all of us can do the things we did previously. I want to be able to go on holidays. I want to be able to do all of those things but it is not just me who feels this way. People in my age group are contacting me and they are petrified and yet we have a gun to our heads. It is a case of take it or leave it. The Tánaiste said a couple of weeks ago that if people do not take this vaccine they will have to go to the back of the queue. A person who rang me this morning said they were not comfortable about taking AstraZeneca and they were told that they might get to him in August or September. Professor Kingston Mills said today that it is wrong that one can only have access to one vaccine. I want somebody somewhere to tell me how it is okay for a 60 year old and not for a 59 year old to take the AstraZeneca vaccine. I say to this House today that I am petrified but I will probably have to take the vaccine because the risk of getting Covid-19 is even worse. However, I am not happy.