Evanne Ní Chuilinn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am not going to repeat anything. I support everything that has been brought up this evening. I want to mention one thing. Currently, there are five vaccinations recommended by NIAC for older people. Three of them are provided for free under the immunisation programme nationally while two are not, namely, shingles and RSV. There is a commitment in the programme for Government to implement the recommendations on the potential expansion of the national immunisation programme. This would be a good time to revisit that. The Minister might be able to come back to us with an update on the timeline. Today, the former deputy chief medical officer, Ronan Glynn, launched a report on the programme, saying it would save the health service money in the long term. That is probably obvious. One of the vaccines is for shingles. We know that shingles attacks the body when the immune system is low. It can affect people straight after chemotherapy or during pregnancy. I got shingles as a pregnant woman. It is not fun and is very painful. It affects older people a lot as well. A vaccination programme would keep older people out of our overcrowded hospitals and GP waiting rooms. Carers have been mentioned a lot today. It would also affect them. Many people have to take time off work to look after their older relatives when they get sick. There would be an impact there as well. Unfortunately, we are the outliers in Europe, as 13 European countries fund a free shingles vaccination programme, including the UK, Greece and France. I do not want to put the emphasis on money because it is about health and minding our older people. However, a 2024 report from the Office of Health Economics estimated that rolling out all five vaccines would prevent 375,000 cases of diseases, 74,000 hospital admissions and 1,400 deaths.