Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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3074. To ask the Minister for Health if he will address a matter in relation to the second dose recommendation for a vaccine for administering after 21 days rather than 28 days (details supplied); if this has been considered by NIAC and the Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40156/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The immunisation programme in Ireland is based on the advice of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC). The Committee's recommendations are based on the prevalence of the relevant disease in Ireland and international best practices in relation to immunisation.

The NIAC makes recommendations on vaccination policy to my Department. The NIAC review all data relating to COVID-19 vaccines on a rolling basis. The Comirnaty (Pfizer/BioNTech) vaccine course consists of two doses administered 21-28 days apart as advised in the NIAC's Immunisation Guidelines.

As this Parliamentary Question relates to an operational issue, it is a matter for the HSE. However, members of the Oireachtas are advised that the HSE is currently unable to access the information to answer Parliamentary Questions due to the recent cyber-attack, which has required a temporary shut-down of HSE IT systems. The disruption to service is on-going, and the HSE is working hard to restore its IT capacity and resume normal services. Members of the Oireachtas will be advised as soon as the HSE is again in a position to provide responses to PQs and are encouraged to resubmit their Parliamentary Questions at that point.