Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have a problem, which will develop even more over the next number weeks, relating to people under the age of 40 who are looking to get recovery certificates after contracting Covid, especially during Christmas. We have a situation at present, through no fault of the people concerned, where those under the age of 40 who have had their first and second vaccines, and were going to get boosters, cannot have their boosters for three months because they got Covid. During Christmas, we asked people under 40 to take antigen tests instead of PCR tests and, because of that, under EU law they cannot receive Covid recovery certificates. This is now causing significant problems for people when they travel because they cannot go into countries unless they have a valid Covid certificate, with a booster, or if they have not got a booster, they have to show proof of recovery. This is a major dilemma for people under 40. We asked them to take antigen tests and we now cannot facilitate them to travel to other countries.

Two things can be done. The EU could allow expansion of the freedom of recovery certificates to those who took antigen tests that were reported to the State. People who took antigen tests and reported to the HSE that they had Covid should be allowed to get recovery certificates on the back of that, not just those who took tests such as professional antigen tests or PCR tests.More importantly, the time period between recovering from Covid-19 and being allowed to get a booster is three months. That equivalent time period in the UK is 28 days. I call on the National Immunisation Advisory Committee to reduce the time period here from three months to 28 days to allow people to receive a booster in a timely manner. It is a simple recommendation that should be allowed. It should happen immediately. The biggest problem we have is that those under the age of 40 are currently encouraged to do antigen tests instead of getting a PCR test. This problem will become greater the more people book flights and travel abroad. If we do not change that policy to allow people under the age of 40 to get PCR tests, the problem will become worse.