Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The vaccination programme has been a success; of that there is no doubt. Almost 95% of our population is now fully vaccinated. Great credit is due to all the staff who have worked in the various vaccination centres, to the HSE and to the public, who bought into the factual situation that vaccines save lives and reduce the risk of contracting Covid-19. However, I was disappointed to read a report in today's edition of the Irish Examinerthat staff have been let go from the vaccination centres in recent months. Those centres are now struggling to get staff to come back to work. Everyone knew there was going to be a booster programme. The Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, as long as ago as last summer, stated that there would be a booster programme. We are now struggling to meet the demand for booster vaccines because we cannot get the staff. The Minister needs to come into the House and address that issue. He must direct the HSE to keep the staff in the vaccination centres until the pandemic is over.

Getting booster vaccines into people's arms is now a national crisis. In my home town, there are two pharmacies that do not open on Sundays. We should be doing everything. We should be paying pharmacists to give the booster vaccines, particularly in rural areas where pharmacies close on Sundays. That should be done. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, should be taken up on his offer of the use of the Defence Forces to give booster vaccines. The quicker we get our population vaccinated with booster shots, the better, and the more lives we will save. I do not think enough is being done to facilitate the booster vaccine. We saw the queues at Citywest, where people were queuing for five hours. That was replicated in other centres around the country. There is no need for it. We need to get in people who are skilled and able to give vaccines. It is simple. We urgently need to put all of the nation's resources into dealing with this problem.