Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, to the House and thank her for taking this Commencement matter. The matter I raise is the issue of the monkeypox vaccine, the lack of supply of vaccines and of a programme of vaccination, and the disappointing lack of communication with the gay community. It is causing huge anxiety. I appreciate that this is not the Minister of State's area of responsibility but I thank her for being here today.

The issue of the supply of vaccines is a challenge not just for Ireland but for the wider world. If we look across the world to parts of Europe, our near neighbours, and to North America, we see that vaccination programmes have been rolled out quite successfully. I ask the Government, the Department of Health, the HSE and the National Immunisation Advisory Committee, NIAC, to put in place now - in the autumn of 2022 - a comprehensive vaccination programme. I hope the Government will acknowledge that the vaccination programme is necessary but is incomplete. At the moment we have an initiative targeted at a small cohort of men in the gay community. It is not expansive enough and it does not cover the wider community but it needs to do so.

In tandem, the messaging from the Government, the HSE and NIAC has been very disappointing. It has been uncertain. The whole issue of the vaccination programme and the messaging has been slow and uncertain. We need to have a promotional campaign and messaging for the MSM community. I say this as a member of the gay community. I am conscious that many people may think monkeypox is a sexually transmitted infection, STI, which it is not. It is much more than that.

For many of us, it seems that we are going back to the 1980s, when we had another epidemic called HIV, and the way we were treated then. I do not want that to happen now and to have a situation where we have people pigeonholed or victimised. We need a whole-of-government approach in which clarity and accessibility are pivotal and part of what the Government does for the gay community. I accept the Minister of State's bona fides have always been extraordinary. I know she will go back to the Minister for Health following my genuine attempt to have a comprehensive vaccine roll-out. It feels as though the gay community has been forgotten about again by the Government.

I wish to ask about access to the vaccine. I am aware that Ireland is part of the EU-wide approach to the vaccine. Where stands Ireland now with regard to vaccine supply? What is the status of our order? What is the approach of the Government and the HSE to a post-availability increase in supply of the vaccine in the context of the target audience? Who will be allowed to get the vaccine? When can it happen? Have we a roadmap? As other countries have done with the intradermal route in terms of administration of the vaccine, have we put in place an operation to change the issuing of the vaccine so we can administer more doses to more people? It really is about defining where we are going to be in ten weeks or in ten days as opposed to where we are now, which is a very disappointing place.

I look forward to the Minister of State's reply and thank her for being here. This is a matter of extreme importance. We cannot go back to where we were in the 1980s. It is about ensuring we have a whole-of-government approach to the provision of the vaccine and to supply at a European level.