Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The citizens of this country have worked hard to follow Government guidelines with respect to Covid-19. We now have a situation where the numbers are rising again at a worrying level. I will outline an issue that has been brought to my attention recently. A few fully vaccinated people around the area in which I live have came down with Covid-19 and this is causing massive worry among people of my age group. The older lemons in society are concerned that the vaccines may not be as effective as they should be although all of the assurances are that everything is fine and people should hang in there. We need far better reporting by Government. We need a breakdown of the age groups who have been diagnosed with Covid-19. We need to know how many of the people in ICU are not vaccinated. We need to get the word out there that vaccination is the only way to beat this and reassure people.

Yesterday I spoke to some grandparents and they are now afraid to bring their grandchildren into their houses because the word has gone out that children get and can carry Covid-19. This is causing people to think in a very different way so I think we need far clearer reporting. We need a breakdown, on a daily basis, of the age groups in ICU and the age groups who have been diagnosed so as people can be relatively comfortable in their thinking around Covid-19. To throw out a figure of 3,796 cases last night has left people asking what the point is in getting a booster vaccine if the thing is no good. We need to retain faith in the system. The system is working well but we need better reporting right across the board.