Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit go dtí an Teach. I welcome her back to our original Chamber. I tabled a similar Commencement matter last April and I will continue to table this one because of its importance. This is particularly so from a County Clare perspective given the late Laura Brennan was from Ennis. She did so much in her campaigning to encourage both parents and young people to take up the human papillomavirus, HPV, vaccine. At one stage take-up was in excess of 80%, which is remarkable, even from a European or worldwide perspective. As we move forward through the pandemic, we see vaccine hesitancy in the country is very low by international standards. We have take-up of well over 90% in the Covid-19 vaccination programme. I want to see us achieve 90% take-up in the HPV vaccination programme because it does save lives. As Laura Brennan said on a regular basis, this is the one vaccine that will save lives. It is proven, tried and tested. The research and the facts speak for themselves. Obviously the programme has suffered an interruption due to Covid-19 and schools being closed, as well as the difficulties and challenges associated with that. Nobody can blame anybody for that. That is just the way it was. There was a public health emergency and unfortunately, a lot of healthcare suffered, including the HPV vaccine roll-out.

I have a couple of questions for the Minister of State on the update I have sought. The first seeks a general update on where we are with the HPV vaccine now, including what the uptake levels are like, what the plans are and what the expected uptake level is. The second question is whether we are thinking outside the box with respect to rolling the vaccine out.Obviously, schools are the easiest and most straightforward way of doing this but there are people who are not caught through that approach, such as those who are being homeschooled. We have a network of vaccination centres that have delivered the Covid-19 vaccine very effectively. We need to see if other vaccines can be delivered through that network, now that the centres are up and running. The flu vaccine is an obvious one, as is the HPV vaccine. I have raised this matter before. I would like to know if any of the vaccination centres have been used. If so, I ask for some detail on that. If not, are there plans to use the vaccination centres, especially in areas in which there is a lower take-up of the HPV vaccine than we would like? Clearly, we want 100% of people to take it up, but if there are parts of the country in which the take-up is lower than in others, maybe we need to look at other interventions, such as using the vaccination centres.

The HPV vaccine catch-up programme has come to my attention on a number of occasions. People throughout the country have heard me raising the issue and have contacted me. If parents decide not to go ahead with the vaccine because they are hesitant, concerned or fearful and then change their minds after six or 12 months, they have to pay a €600 fee to get the vaccine from their GP. We should not be punishing people who decide, albeit late, that they want to do what is right in the interest of their children's health. Can the Minister of State give a commitment that we will waive that €600 fee? If we got that out of this debate, it would be a major achievement and would certainly help in increasing the uptake of the HPV vaccine.