Both of the Deputies asked about the rapid testing so I will answer that first. I believe there is a role for rapid testing but there are differently held views among experts on both sides of this. Some believe there is a very limited role for rapid testing, while others believe there is a very broad and useful role for it. I am in favour of rapid testing. There are risks, such as people believing they have a highly accurate negative test, but with rapid testing they do not. Serious concerns have also been expresse…

I am sure the Deputy will appreciate that I have not got the detail on the specific case she mentioned, so I cannot respond to that. The safety of students and staff in our schools is of paramount importance. If the Deputy has a case that she is concerned about, then she must please come to me with that and we will have it looked into. If there are learnings to be had, and there are always learnings to be had, then I ask the Deputy to let me know. I will feed them into the system. We must have the best possible pro…

I cannot fully give the questions the time they deserve and need but the prioritisation is being done by very careful examination by the national immunisation advisory committee, NIAC, of the risk of severe illness, hospitalisation or death for those with underlying conditions. On CF, for example, Professor Butler said many people had expected a much greater link but that the good news from NIAC's perspective was that there was not as severe a link as it had expected. However, there is more information coming out i…

I thank the Acting Chairman. I thank the Deputy for his questions. With regard to the people arriving into the country from category 2 countries who have been vaccinated or who may have had Covid-19 in the past, the answer is "Yes". They will be subject to mandatory hotel quarantining. Everyone coming in has to have a negative PCR test, for example. They, too, will be subject to mandatory hotel quarantining. I share the Deputy's passion and agitation around cancer treatment. It is a real issue but this is not the G…

In response to Deputy McAuliffe, the news about the walk-in test centres is good. I echo the Deputy's message, which is for people living within 5 km of these centres to turn up and get PCR tests. It is only one measure. There is no silver bullet but it is an extra measure to target and find this virus. It is to support people, communities and geographic areas where people need this support so that we can find this virus, treat people, isolate the virus and get the case numbers back down. Regarding deliveries, we e…

If I may, I will use the time left to me to address some of the issues raised by Deputy Connolly.

I might revert to the Deputy in writing on those issues. Is he still in the Chamber?

I thank the Deputy. It is something that was part of the original plan. I prefer not to speculate on issues like that when there is a lot of thinking going at the moment in terms of what happens after 5 April. However, I take the Deputy's points very much on board. Regarding the distribution of vaccines to GPs, I hope Deputy Connolly will not mind me referring to the GPs who have said positive things about it. There has been a lot of coverage of GPs who did not get the vaccines when they should have. Sometimes that…

I am sharing time with the Minister of State, Deputy Butler. I believe we would all agree that Ireland’s Covid-19 vaccination programme is the most ambitious public health initiative ever undertaken by the State. Following the considerable sacrifices made by everyone in taking action to minimise the risk of spreading the disease, the availability of safe and effective vaccines provides a beacon of hope for a return to some normality. The vaccines protect the lives of those most vulnerable to Covid and will allow us…

I thank the Deputy. I will get him a detailed note on the number of corrections or revisions from AstraZeneca. Last week over a seven-day period, it revised down its deliveries at the very last minute three times. The reasons are down to production. It is not my area of expertise but we are told that the production of these compounds is very complex and things can go wrong. However, I agree with the Deputy; what is happening with AstraZeneca is not good enough. Ultimately the people it is causing anxiety for, the o…

I thank the Deputy. I am in regular contact with other EU ministers. There are meetings of EU ministers on a regular basis and exactly these issues are being aired by me and by others. The negotiation over supply sits with the Commission. The contracting relationship is with the Commission. On top of that I can assure the Deputy that the task force which has taken on this relationship is in very regular contact not just with AstraZeneca but also with the others. Before the Deputy comes back, may I make one brief po…

I thank the Deputy. I have not because the contracting relationship in the first instance is with the Commission and in Ireland, the task force is taking the lead on that. AstraZeneca has appointed a more senior person in recent times as the relationship manager with Ireland. May I just make one quick point? I know it is the Deputy's time so I will make it very quickly. Regarding the efficiency of the roll-out, in defence of the HSE it is getting 95% of the vaccines that arrive here out within seven days. By any re…

I thank the Deputy. I can confirm that considerable work is going on. It is being run from the Department of Health in connection obviously with NPHET and NIAC. It is looking broadly at the rest of the population. We all know that NIAC initially established a very detailed prioritisation. Now that we know more about the vaccines and their distribution, work is going on to establish what happens after cohort 4. I am very sympathetic to the points that have been raised by the carers. I am acutely aware of the value o…

-----neither they nor the people they are caring for are currently being prioritised.

It is not really a "Yes" or "No" because right now, what we have are cohorts 1 to 4.

I thank the Deputy. There are two pieces of good news for pharmacists. One is that the pharmacists themselves are being vaccinated as front-line healthcare staff. The second is that as we move past cohort 4 and start vaccinating, for example, people aged from 65 to 69, the current thinking is that pharmacists will be able to be involved there because it is a lower-complexity and lower-risk group of people.

I saw the claim being made. It does not reflect what was said.

I thank the Deputy. Various stories are circulating. One which I believe is real is that Denmark and some other country are looking at a strategic partnership with Israel. However, when we look into them, what we find is that these relate to quarter 4 of this year or possibly into next year. What is important to us is vaccine in the short term. We are not aware of European countries working with pharmaceutical companies to secure additional vaccine beyond the EU process in the short term.

I will ask the task force to produce a note. The task force is our lead group on this on behalf of the Government. It is in regular contact with all of the pharma companies. I will ask that a note be sent to the Deputy on the level of contact.

The task force, on behalf of the Government, is in regular contact with those companies.