Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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245. To ask the Minister for Health if unused allocations of a vaccine (details supplied) in other EU countries will be redistributed throughout the EU; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12406/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland is participating in a Procurement Exercise being operated by the European Commission on behalf of Member States to procure suitable, safe and effective vaccines, in sufficient quantities, to combat COVID-19.

Six APAs have been negotiated by the Commission under this process to date. Ireland has opted-in to five APAs to secure vaccine supplies: BioNTech/Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Janssen/J&J and CureVac.

Under each APA, vaccine doses are allocated pro rata based on participating Member States’ populations and are subsequently purchased by those individual Member States.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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246. To ask the Minister for Health if he is considering the application of different levels of Covid-19 restrictions on counties or regional areas based on local case numbers and trends as occurred in summer 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12407/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As has been the case throughout this pandemic, the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) considers a range of different indicators of disease and compliance, and considers those indicators in context, when making its recommendations to Government. There is not one indicator or one specific number which signals that it is safe to ease restrictions, and this will continue to be the case in the coming weeks and months.

The Government's updated plan for managing COVID-19, The Path Ahead, states that the “situation will be subject to ongoing review taking account of the evolving epidemiological situation and available evidence in relation to vaccine deployment, uptake and effectiveness”. The document states that the focus of assessment, based on public health advice, will be on achieving much lower levels of disease prevalence (case numbers/incidence) that can be managed and controlled by public health; that the R number is such that we can be confident we can continue to suppress the disease (e.g. at or below 1); low levels of hospital and critical care occupancy allowing the safe resumption of non-Covid care; ongoing and steady progress with the vaccine rollout such that the most vulnerable are protected and emerging information regarding variants of concern.

The Path Aheadis available online:

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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247. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the supply of PPE to dentists. [12408/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Government has provided the HSE with an overall budget of €450 million for PPE in 2021, for all parts of the health service.

As the Deputy will appreciate, there are many competing demands for that PPE, and the provision of PPE to private dentists contracted by the HSE is being considered in that context.