Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Senator Buttimer said pretty much exactly what I was going to say, but I will say it a little bit differently. I want to build on the comments of Senators Ahearn and Buttimer. The figures do not lie. Professor Philip Nolan spoke on the radio this morning. Everybody is calling for certainty, but unfortunately if certainty was given today, it might be the wrong certainty. It might be the certainty people do not want to hear.

I agree with everything Senator Ahearn and, in particular, Senator Buttimer said.I ask people who have not been vaccinated to please think about it again. I ask them to think about it not just for themselves but for their families, elderly relatives, brothers, sisters, children, neighbours and the people they interact with in supermarkets and shops, on public transport, in the workplace and anywhere else they may go.

It is so awful to hear of people who decided not to get the vaccine and, especially in America and Britain, the Covid-19 deniers who think that it will not happen to them. On YouTube, there are videos of such people saying that they wish they had got the vaccine. The vaccine is available and free. More than 7.2 million doses have been given to the Irish population and we know it works. I think I heard Dr. Colm Henry at the weekend saying that 67% of the people in intensive care units had not received a vaccine and 3% or more had only received one dose of vaccine. Most of the people in intensive care units have not been vaccinated, despite us having the highest vaccination rate in the EU and almost in the world. I give credit to all the people involved for that, as well as the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, and the Government in general. All those healthcare workers have helped to do this.

If people have not been vaccinated, I ask them to think about it again. The risks from getting Covid-19 are far greater than the risks from being vaccinated. They are multiple times greater. I ask all the influencers and celebrities to advocate for this. They all have their own followers and they bring people with them. This is not necessarily about young or older people but it goes right across society. It is about 300,000 people in the qualifying population - children are not in that population. They have decided, for whatever reason, not to be vaccinated. That cohort comprises the vast bulk of people in intensive care units. Some of them will die, which is terrible for them, their friends, families and everyone they might leave behind. I urge people to think about it and to please get the vaccine. As the phrase goes, it is for all of us.